Colorless Fate
by Ice-Roses
Summary: "I'm...going to get killed, aren't I?" She was going to need some delicate mental care after this. Because slowly, but surely, she was being sucked into some crazy mafia world of bombs and baseballs and gun-toting infants. She totally wasn't traumatized. No. Not at all.
1. Prologue

**~Prologue~**

**The chapter that's too long to be a prologue, that you really don't need to read, that is completely unnecessary, but is here anyway.**

** Its recommended that you skip down to the very eye catching bold lettering a few paragraphs over.**

* * *

It was a well-known fact that Lynx was a young girl. It was also a well-known fact that she was something of a wallflower.

What _wasn't _a well-known fact was that Lynx was an evil, anti-social, bitch-in-the-making sponsored by her own wretched little mind, and was hell-bent on secretly bringing the world into various states of human genocide.

…

Well, that's a bit much. But she was still dead-set on bringing the Apocalypse on a smaller scale, at least. And wrecking social havoc. And freaking people out. And being an anti-social little psychopath with nothing better to do than screw with people's heads until they run away screaming.

Hm. Remind you of anyone?

But anyway…

Kuromine, Lynx, an apathetic teenaged girl with a severe case of social awkwardness, walked through the streets at the late hours of the afternoon and absentmindedly surveyed her surroundings.

A plain, ordinary takoyaki stand. Annoying multitudes of humanity. A random, boring bench. More annoying multitudes of humanity. Some guy apart from the crowd murdering people. Cool. And did she mention the annoying multitudes of humanity?

She snorted in her mind as people fled the scene of that school perfect, Hibari Kyoya, beating up some poor, unintelligent glob of flesh for 'disturbing the peace.' Honestly, Lynx saw no problem with that – he was just enforcing the rules, wasn't he? That wasn't so scary, was it?

Many would beg to differ.

Lynx shoved her hands in her pockets and walked on, away from the…_people. _

She didn't really like people, see.

People were so…pathetic? No, just…_boring. _They were basically the same: Shallow, narrow-minded, and selfish. Not that she really minded. Because she herself was quite selfish too, see, but then wouldn't Lynx be a hypocrite of her own words?

Actually, no. Lynx wouldn't have minded if people did something INTRESTING to satisfy that selfishness, like take over the entire town and beat the living daylights out of people for completely random reasons because you have the power and you were feeling a bit evil.

No, she didn't have a problem with that at all – if all people were like that, Lynx would probably quit isolating herself from humanity and join the fun.

But unfortunately (Or fortunately, for some) most people were not as creative as the resident bloody psychopaths – they stuck to cheating on tests and throwing away bentos and all that other cliché shit.

Can't anyone be more _original _for a change?

Take last week, for example: Some girl got up to her face. Told Lynx half/half foreigners suck. Decided to spill her store-bought lunch on the dirty gray floor. And pranced away giggling girlishly.

The next day, there was a mass of over-sized local bugs stuck to the bottom of her desk, and a pool of blood in her locker.

…The girl screamed bloody murder, gave Lynx the finger, and transferred away, sobbing with her pack of mindless cronies following, and threw the culprit bloodshot evil eyes as she scurried out the door. Lynx was very proud.

Now, don't judge her so soon – Lynx was relatively nice to strangers. Fairly polite to elders. Somewhat kind to the non-bitchy innocent people who didn't deserve her wrath. But obnoxious, over-cliché little hoes who dare insult her race? No, bitch, no – _they _can feel the full wrath of Lynx's evil murderous tendencies.

As a matter of fact, Lynx was just thinking over some new ideas to make the rest of them leave the school, and that _oh, why can't something interesting happen? _when suddenly something went…

_**BOOM!**_

…In the general vicinity of some house nearby. It was followed by a high-pitched "HIIIIIEEEEEEEEE" from a suspicious direction which Lynx seriously hoped wasn't –

_**CRASH!**_

Lynx barely had time the register the unknown force on top of her as she hit the pavement hard, crushed underneath what was apparently a boy who was blown out of a building by a bomb of some sort.

Interesting.

But as amusing and non-boring as this was, Lynx wasn't feeling well enough to watch with curiosity – actually, she was very dizzy and that might have been her blood that was leaking onto the streets like a broken water pipe as the boy above her hastily got off and stared in horror.

The last thing she remembered was a girly, abet male voice screaming in panic, and a squeaky tone saying something like "Dame-Tsuna…"

Then she conked out.

* * *

Lynx woke up on a bed. Stared at the ceiling impassively. Wondered why the _fuck _someone decorated the room with dangerous weapons. Then turned to look at her attacker with a blank face.

It was a young boy, about her age, brown haired with innocent eyes and a flushed, 'Oh-this-is-so-awkward-what-do-I-DOOO?' expression. He looked kinda familiar. Maybe Lynx had met him at some point in life?

There was an uncomfortable silence as he fidgeted and looked for the right words to say.

"Etto…I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi and…Um…I'm sorry for crashing into you?" He began nervously.

Well. That was a very lame apology. Someone must have agreed with her because seconds later, a giant green mallet materialized out of nowhere, wielded by a small, mafia-y infant who proceeded to nail the boy with a solid smack.

"Dame-Tsuna, that was a pathetic apology. Ignore my idiot student. I'm Reborn," the infant said, retrieving his mallet, which had somehow reverted into a...chameleon? Cool.

He stuck out a tiny hand.

She blinked owlishly. Then shook his hand as he asked her name.

"…Lynx." She said awkwardly.

"Eh? Are you foreign?" Tsuna asks, recovering from the blow to the head. Amazing. He's still alive!

Lynx nodded. "...Half Japanese, though."

"Oh."

"…"

"…"

Again, the silence makes a comeback!

Lynx and Tsuna stared at each other awkwardly as they each lost the thread of conversation. Reborn just watched from the sidelines.

Tsuna desperately wished Lynx would say something and _stop glaring at him._

Lynx inwardly chanted that she needs to _get the hell away from here._

Or risk human interaction. With strangers. Ew. No.

She's not social – she _loathes _being in contact with unknown people for a timespan beyond five minutes. And if said human in contact happens to be the one who accidentally crushed her against the concrete and possibly broke a few ribs…Huh.

Peachy, ain't it?

The silence continued. The baby fell asleep. Lynx stared at the snot bubble and wondered if she can jump out the window before they can react. Or perhaps run away screaming. Whichever works.

Then her stomach growled.

"…" She turned her head as pink dusted her cheeks. _...Shoot, s_he thought. Evil, anti-social, bitches-in-the-making were wonderful creatures – however, the universal laws of living things must still be obeyed.

Therefore, despite Lynx's severely unhealthy eating habits (Read: NONEXISTENT eating habits), she can still get hungry.

And oh great, Sawada Tsunayoshi now had that motherly, somewhat pitying look on his face, as his eyes lost their wary edge and Lynx's inner self slammed her head in a wall. _Noooo...human contact! It violates the rules of my nonexistent religious handbook! _

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" he said, smiling nervously at her.

"... – " Lynx never even began her sentence.

For the second time that day, there was an explosion that rocked the foundations of this house, and Lynx stared at the thing that flew into the room, wielding very real-looking pink grenades and a bazooka.

She paused. _Someone explain: Is a hybrid between a human and a cow possible? Because that thing seems like a very convincing mix of the two._

Now.

While Lynx may come off as a suicidal person with zero sense of self-preservation, she _did _have that wonderful sixth sense that gives her a heads up when a blaring red 'Danger! Mass Explosion Incoming!' flag is shown – namely, when a cow child armed with very real grenades and bazookas shouts 'Die, Reborn!' and hurls said grenades at the other infant of the room.

Who deflected it with a single hand, sent the bombs flying out the window, successfully ruining the glass, and enlightening Lynx on why the Tuna-boy had dropped out of the sky.

That baby was obviously not normal.

No, it wasn't the suit, the smirk, or the blatant evilness that vibrated off the kid – it was…the curly sidebangs.

Yes. The curls.

How are they so damn prefect? Seriously! What the hell? Only massively evil homicides can have such symbols! Don't you know of The Hitler Mustache? It was the same thing! This Reborn kid was the next generation devil child! Hey, Lynx should get his autograph while he's here…

Cough. Right. Anyway…

As soon as Lynx snapped out of the trance that mini-Hitler caused, she tapped Tsuna on the shoulder, even as the cow child screamed and charged at Reborn over and over with no avail.

"Bye."

He looked at her incomprehensively. Then gaped as she jumped out the newly broken window, took a few flying leaps, and landed on the ground safely, before running off, and fading from view.

She had a sudden thought. _Well. That was surprisingly easy. How come people don't use the window more? _

Then she ran away at the speed of light.

Back in the Sawada Household, one Sawada Tsunayoshi stood rooted by the window and stared after the fading figure with his mouth open.

"Wha…Did she just – ? Oi, Lambo, stop!"

"Waaahh!"

**BOOM.**

Cue Ten-Year-Bazooka.

"Yare, yare…Young Vongola, good to see you again."

The door opened, and a pink haired woman stepped in, holding a plate of purple food, thus identifying herself as Bianchi, who looked mildly annoyed. She caught sight of the room's cow-printed occupant.

"What's with all the noi – ROMEO!"

Vongola chaos ensues.

* * *

In the middle of the night, after the long haired 'Lynx' girl had left, Tsuna lay on his bed, about to go to sleep.

"Sighh…I hope that Lynx-san is alright…Everything that happened must have scared her, on top of her injuries…"

"Dame-Tsuna. You should make her your subordinate."

"What? Reborn…" Tsuna groaned. Thank goodness that Gokudera and Yamamoto weren't here today – they probably would've traumatized the poor girl, and made her mentally scarred for life…As if random tuna boy artillery followed by grenade spamming wouldn't.

That had been the first encounter between Kuromine Lynx and Sawada Tsunayoshi.

It also marked the start of a beautiful relationship.

…

…Okay, not really.

But it _did _mark the start of a long stroll in hell.

* * *

The funny thing about life was, that even when Lynx decided that yesterday's fiasco was the most horrible thing ever, and that there's no way anything can be worse, something out of the blue has to come and prove her wrong.

You know that stuff earlier, about how Lynx wished life was more interesting and that people were less boring and ect. ect?

Well.

When she said that, she meant something _fun _and interesting, like the gang next town coming over to fight with the Discipline Committee, or some fellow evil genius pulling a brilliant prank, or watching a stuffed animal get grinded up in a blender as she taped it for Youtube. (Which is...not creepy at all. Totally not. Lynx has a perfectly normal sense of 'fun')

Not getting squashed by some girly 'Tuna-boy' or caught up in explosions, or being overly exposed to human contact, or meeting the next generation Hitler baby.

Well, you can scratch the last one – that part was pretty interesting. The Reborn kid was one of Lynx's kind – in other words, cunning, sadistic, and having violently evil tendencies that involve their enemies seeing hell.

But whatever.

Point is, Lynx wished for stuff to happen, and was subjected to the worst 24 hours of her life in the company of the new bane of her existence: The Sawada Household.

Then she deemed that it was a one-time experience that was never gonna repeat.

She was dead wrong.

The divine beings up there must have something against her because three days later, after school, she found herself once again meeting with the infamous Sawada Tsunayoshi, sitting at a sushi place being fed ootoro, and wishing someone had taught her the importance of running away screaming like a headless chicken when the time is right.

Like thirty minutes ago.

Let's rewind a bit, shall we?

See, Lynx was just walking home after class, and then this completely _random _tall, tanned boy just sees her face and goes, "Ahahaa! Are you new to town? I haven't seen you before!" as he manages to somehow steer her to a sushi place without her notice.

It was like, stare, stare, blink, Ahahaha! What's your name?...Do you like baseball?...You hungry?...Ahahaha!...walks…takes arm…and suddenly…

Whoosh. Lynx found herself seated in a chair of the newly acquainted Yamamoto Takeshi's sushi restaurant, staring at the bane of her existence dead in the eye as she wondered if this was karma's way of payback for what she does to her classmates.

Yamamoto Takeshi ahahaha'd and left to help his father.

Silence made a gallant stand.

Silence still didn't last long.

"Oi! Who are you and what do you want with Jyuudaime!" shouted a silver haired guy that somehow resembled an octopus.

Funny. Humans and octopuses were nothing alike.

"Ah! Gokudera-kun, calm down! She's… a friend!"

Lynx raised an eyebrow. They _were? _Did she miss something in the last three days?

Because the last time she checked, she and Tuna-boy were NOT on good terms. At all. Actually, she abhorred his very existence and wished upon him a gruesome death. That was not friendly. Plus, she was still recovering from extreme bloodloss courtesy of aforementioned Tuna-boy.

Besides. Who would want to be friends with _her?_

Her slate colored hair was boring. Her dark eyes spelled an obvious aura of 'I'm-a-miserable-emo-person-so-stay-the-hell-away.' Her pale, pale, skin looked translucent and vampire-like.

The whole package granted Lynx with a rather convenient 'Fuck off' charm.

Yamamoto Takeshi had been sadly immune to said charm.

Anyway. Tsunayoshi, as he is called, was calming down the 'Gokudera' boy who had his hands full of…dynamite?

Peachy.

Another psycho bomber on the loose. Lynx should phone Hibari.

Or did he known these guys already?

"Ah…Lynx-san, right? From a few days ago? Are you okay?" Tsuna nervously asked.

Lynx wordlessly nodded.

The bomber boy snapped his head in her direction and positively _growled _before getting up in her face and snarling, "RESPOND WHEN JYUUDAIME TALKS TO YOU!" while spitting imaginary flames from his mouth.

That's how mad he was. And oh it was freaking scary. Would've been. If only Lynx didn't have experience with these kinds of people.

She blinked at him. Then proceeded to ignore him and snap apart her chopsticks.

He nearly exploded.

"YOU-!"

"Gokudera-kun! She saved me a couple days ago! I was bombed by Reborn and flying in the sky and she broke my fall!"

She had been unceremoniously flattened by aerial artillery. It's not like she had a choice. But hey, whatever you say, Tuna-boy. Whatever you say…

Gokudera's jaw dropped.

There was an epic transformation – his face went from angry troll, to flame breathing dragon, to something resembling a shy, awkward teenaged girl who was scolded by her mother.

Amazing.

Even the facial expressions of these people must be weird. But it was something of a refreshing change, though. So long as no random bombs or floppy dead fishes were nailing her on the head, Lynx decided that these people were admittedly interesting, though dangerous to hazardous degrees.

"…yeah. That." Lynx said, somewhat belatedly. Then she picked up a piece of sushi.

Tsuna looked at her helplessly.

"EHH?" Gokudera exclaimed, recovering from shock. "She – she saved your life? And I _hadn't been there? _Jyuudaime, I'm sorry! I'm a disgrace! I'm unworthy of being your right-hand man! I-…" Yada, yada, yada.

They calmed down eventually (How Tsuna pulled that off is a miracle).

Then ate in silence.

Lynx inwardly pondered on how it would've been _more _interesting if they were aliens or something. She didn't have a problem with that – as a matter of fact, Lynx didn't have a problem with anything non-human.

Be it bugs, snakes, or flying pigs, Lynx welcomed them with open arms, and makes a 180 personality turn (on the inside. Outside? Not so much) when in company with said non-humans. Then she switches back at first sign of civilization. It was a shame, really.

If Lynx would just wipe that blank, morbid stare off her face, then maybe children would stop running away screaming when she comes within 10 feet radius.

"…" Chew. Chew. Munch.

_This is pretty nice..._

* * *

Lynx chewed her dead fish (The legal name is 'sushi') as Tsuna eyed her nervously.

He attempted to stop the awkward silence from stretching any longer.

Like always.

"So Lynx-san…You don't talk much, do you?" He asked, twiddling his chopsticks and setting them down.

Admittedly, the sushi was pretty good. Lynx didn't have anything against fish_._ Gokudera shot her a nasty glare. He was no longer in the midst of regretful doom. What a pity.

"No." She said. Then went straight back to her meal.

Again, silence attempts to make a dramatic return, and ward off the evil foe known as friendly people.

It failed.

Sawada Tsunayoshi seemed to take no heed in the fact that Lynx had no intentions of making social communications of any sort. She tends to purposefully avoid that. At all times.

Then came the return of the master of Ahahaha-ing otherwise known as Yamamoto Takeshi.

He sort of just drifted over and said he was done for the day, and that Hey, Lynx, do you like the sushi, and then, Hey, Tsuna, what's going on?, then Ahahaha, Gokudera, put away your fireworks, and then he unconsciously started another argument between him and the dynamite boy with Tsuna trying to break them up and Lynx watching with a blank face at the sidelines.

She was tempted to sigh.

She almost, _almost _wished for a return of the ever so boring normality.

Actually, this probably _was _normality for these people and, well, frankly she was getting tired of watching them bicker and - wait. Gokudera's getting out the dynamite. He might have knocked something over.

Overpriced sushi and broken dishes. Hm. Lynx continued to watch bemusedly.

"Ciaossu."

She turned her head to see the Hitler baby occupying the space beside her.

"…Hey."

He turned to the bickering group of three that didn't seem like they would shut up anytime soon. Ignored it. Then turned back to her.

"So. Kuromine, Lynx, was it? Aren't you a freshman?"

"Yeah."

"Have you considered transferring as a Nami-Chu second-year?"

Huh. Transferring. And moving up a grade. Sort of. Now why would she do that?

Lynx looked at him pointedly.

Reborn returned her look.

"You have nearly straight a hundreds, despite not paying attention in class, and have skills that would be wasted at that school. Shouldn't you move somewhere? Dame-Tsuna is almost a second-year, and even _he _pulls through. It won't be a problem for you."

_Wait. How the hell does he know this stuff?_

Lynx was a bit perturbed.

Did this baby stalk her or something? No, that's not possible, or he would have mentioned the fact that she sent a good portion of the female population to the hospital at _least_ once…Without the teachers' notice. So there were no records of it.

And she had only moved here a year ago.

So he must have just looked at her records. It _does _comment about her naps.

"…" She didn't respond.

Lynx had been thinking something along the lines of, '_Hell no. It'll be too much effort and I'll lose my bitchy reputation and THEN where would I be? Mobbed by overzealous yet-to-be-bitches and in human contact. No thanks.' _and since Reborn reads minds, he _obviously _knew what she was really saying.

But Reborn being _Reborn, _he just disregarded it as bullshit and twisted her words into something like, _Oh, of course I would love to skip a grade! I'll totally transfer to Dame-Tsuna's class and display my skills for the world to see while you watch from random secret hideouts! Thank you, Reborn-san!_

Yeah. He didn't give a damn about free-will.

"It was nice talking to you." Talking? Her? She said a total of…like…_three _words! "Ciao, ciao!"

Then he vanished.

And the bickering trio seemed to be coming to a conclusion with their argument, with Lynx having been totally forgotten amidst their fray.

Some random waiter put a bill on the table. It covered the plates, the damages, and the overpriced sushi.

Lynx blinked.

…_Wow. That's a lot of zeros._

Then she dutifully tapped Tsuna's shoulder, ("HIIIIEEEE! Oh, Lynx-san. Sorry about all this! What's wrong?") and flashed him the bill.

He nearly wilted with despair.

* * *

**Katekyo Hitman Reborn (C) Amano Akira**

**Kuromine Lynx (C) Ice-Roses - aka _Moi_**


	2. At The School of Doom

…_Huh? What bullshit is this guy spewing?_

The principal nodded sternly. Lynx stared in disbelief.

"Yes. As teacher, and because Boreen-sama so diligently requested that you skip a grade and transfer to Namimori, as of now, you no longer attend here. Go! Go see the world! Became a great person! Goodbye, my dear pupil!"

The door was slammed shut, Lynx was locked out, and a brand new uniform was thrown in her hands.

And that was that.

Unceremoniously kicked out of her original school, today, Lynx stood before the gates of Nami-Chu with a somewhat worried expression – she really, really hoped that the pool of blood up front was just fate messing with her, and that the stack of dead corpses being dragged along by a pompadour squad was just her morbid imagination.

Shrugging nonchalantly, Lynx walked through the gates, dressed in the standard Nami-Chu uniform, more or less prepared for what was to come, so long as no blood thirsty demon attacks out of the blue, and adds her body to the aforementioned stack of corpses.

Lynx checked her schedule.

_Class 2A. First Period: Math._

For some weird, yet to be known reason, the red WARNING: LIFE THREATENING DANGER alarm rang in the back of Lynx's mind, but she didn't know why that would be. So long as it wasn't a class full of mafia bosses and trained assassins, Lynx was sure she could handle it nicely – and just what are the chances of _that?_

She strolled through the halls and arrived at the wanted destination after registering.

Room 2A. Should she be nervous?

Lynx knocked on the door. The teacher opened it and peered out at her.

"Ah. Kuromine Lynx, right? Newest transfer student?"

Nod. Nod.

He opened the door wider.

"Well, wait a moment while I tell the class!"

The door closed.

Lynx had one of those random moments when you ponder about life. Should she really pull through with that plan for human genocide? The only reason she was a devious bitch was due to fellow bitches mocking her but now that might be different…

Did she _really _want to be a friendless emo person? WHAT ABOUT HAPPINESS? What about what _they _had said to her?

Well. Even Lynx can't deny that a set amount of happiness is good for human health and that she should find a means to obtain it that does _not _revolve around the screams of fellow classmates.

That was a bit mean. And morbid. But so pretty!

I mean, when they make that horrified face and scream their head off, or turn blood red with humiliation and do something different from the norm, and when they fall off the stairs with a spectacular screech and…Cough.

Point is, Lynx should start getting happiness though non-violent means because first of all, _they _both said she should, and that, well, she _might _have wanted something new in life.

So…make friends?

_Yeah, _Lynx thought, making a big step towards obtaining compassion, _I'll make a few friends._

She'll try. And probably fail. But the point is, she had such thoughts, and that should be considered a valiant effort to becoming more human and less psycho happy murder.

It was a huge deal. (She only had thoughts like this every once…Five years or so? Yeah. That.)

* * *

Within the classroom, the teacher cleared his throat, and started talking.

"Today, we have a new transfer student! She has skipped a grade, so she's a bit younger than you guys, but I expect a warm welcome! No funny business! You may come in now!"

Lynx took her cue to get moving and made her entrance, stepping forwards to the front of the classroom with confidence she didn't have, and a hopefully normal expression.

She didn't smile. Her facial muscles were too stiff and she'd look constipated when it's forced.

So she made the blank face. And scanned the room.

It fell upon Sawada Tsunayoshi. Gokudera No-name. And Yamamoto Takeshi. The blond girl radiating bright pink sparkles with roses in the background burned her eyes. The girl with wavy hair and a scowl seemed like someone Lynx can put up with. Potential friend?

But…Huh. Who would've thought that a few days after that oh-so-darn-gorgeous encounter with Baby Hitler who _just so happened _to suggest this, she randomly gets transferred to one Sawada Tsunayoshi's class under the recommendation of this 'Boreen' person.

That's not suspicious at all.

No, that was all complete coincidence, and Lynx was just going to happily ignore the fact that 'Boreen' is an anagram of 'Reborn' and that all was well, and that she was totally not stuck in room of crazy psychos who looked ready to kill her.

Her plan for making friends seemed to drift further out of reach.

A sudden vision of a grey octopus extending flaming tentacles to strangle her took the place of Gokudera for a second. She blinked.

Funny. It was the second time that she made a connection between Gokudera and octopuses when they were really nothing alike…

"Alright! Introduce yourself, please!" the teacher said, as Lynx snapped out of her thoughts and returned to the real world.

Lynx paused. Considered what she should say. Then decided, _Oh, to hell with this._

Bane of her existence of not, Lynx should make the most of her transfer to a place where she wasn't revered and feared. So that means she should begin with a normal, ordinary introduction.

"Kuromine, Lynx. I'm only half Japanese. My race is none of your concern. That is all."

So much for normal.

That was by far the shortest, possibly shittiest introduction of all time – pretty much the only thing they learned was her name! And what's even more amazing? Those were the most words Lynx had said in _three years!_

Murmurs rippled through the class and funny looks were cast her way.

Inner Lynx was sitting down and drawing circles in the mud.

_I failed. I should stick to plans of human genocide. I'll never get friends. I need my homicidal, violent ways. Un-morbid happiness is too far out of reach…_

An invisible, miniature cloud of doom hung over Lynx's head as she made her way to the seat at the back the teacher pointed out – her expression never changed. That's how stiff her face was. No, really, she smiled only twice in her intelligent life, and the rest was just…blank.

But she _can_ scowl, though. Or frown. They take less effort than smiling since it goes against gravity and the others…don't (I mean, a smile goes up, which goes against gravity, which takes more effort, and Lynx doesn't spare effort, so therefore…no smiles).

Lynx sat in her seat with a straight back and looked pointedly ahead, seemly ignorant to the stares of her fellow classmates. Particularly the glare of Gokudera what's-his-name, the gawking of Tuna-boy, and the smiling face of Yamamoto Takeshi – oh yeah. Him. He seems like the type to be friends with anyone.

Perhaps she should go for him?

…Nah. His smiles would burn her eyes within five minutes of contact.

And Lynx liked her eyes – they were useful, see. Creepy, slitted, and scary to a degree, but she can use them to watch people suffer, throw murderous glares, channel her evil mind waves…

For some reason, the atmosphere strangely resembled that of a funeral – Wait. Scratch that. Lynx was _sure _it was one of a grave, tragic funeral. But _whose _was it? Not hers, of course…No…can't be…

And so, the first day of class began.

* * *

Lynx promptly fell asleep amidst unconcealed murderous glares, somewhat less obvious gawking, and the curious gazes of many people.

She was also propped up on one arm. With her eyes open.

It was amazing what the desperate would do.

Some time in her early teens, Lynx had finally perfected the art of sleeping with your eyes open – she simply couldn't take the boredom and figured that heck, might as well catch up on beauty sleep!

The sad thing is, when Lynx is sleeping with her eyes open, she has no control over her facial muscles. That usually leaves one expression free and peaceful looking. But Lynx wasn't _entirely _asleep so instead, her face takes on her default expression – the 'I'm-as-bored-as-hell-so-do-something-interesting' face.

And oh it was so darn obvious. So of course the teacher would notice. And take offense.

"Kuromine-san, do you really find class so boring?" The teacher suddenly said. _Arrogant little brat! I'll teach her to mock me! _Was what he was thinking.

Lynx heard something like 'Blah, blah, blah…" directed her way and then just blinked to undo her trance-like sleep technique.

Then she looked up at the teacher and shook her head.

"Well." The teacher sniffed with disapproval. "Why don't you solve this problem, then?"

Just between you and me, the teacher had no idea how to do this problem – it really wasn't what they were studying, and was just up there to scare the students into thinking 'Holy shi-! I HAVE TO DO THIS CRAP?' and study harder. But the students didn't know. So this transfer student was doomed to fail! Mwuhahaha! Joys of being the teacher…

Lynx looked at the board. Wasn't that an extremely advanced viewing math problem used only for freaking people out? Hm. No matter. Shitty childhoods _do _had their good points after all…

"X=0.24561. Y=578.124." Lynx said flatly. She never even stood up.

Half the class suddenly swerved in their seats to stare at her, Tuna-boy and co. included.

Lynx inwardly twitched. _What? Did I do something wrong? _ No, of course she didn't do anything wrong – she just solved a problem about five years too early for this class in less than three seconds, literally without batting an eyelash.

That wasn't freaky at all. No. Why on earth would you think that?

_Now_ Lynx was feeling a bit perturbed. Even the _teacher _donned a 'WTF?' expression and seemed to be in a mild state of shock. He also looked vaguely disappointed, like sweet vengeance was denied or something…Which is weird, because Lynx was pretty sure he wasn't among the teachers she sent to the hospital last year.

Then, after a moment of silence…

"Ahahaha! You're really smart, Kuromine-chan!" came the voice of the Ahahaha-ing Master. For those who don't know, his official title is Yamamoto Takeshi, but Ahahaha-ing Master seemed to have a better ring to it.

Lynx dutifully blinked in acknowledgement and said an extraordinarily awkward sounding "Thanks…" and wondered if she was really that smart. Was it Japanese tradition to flatter people? Didn't _everyone _have to know how to do that problem on the board? Or was it just her?

Later on, after the staring fest was over, and the teacher recovered from shock, Lynx learned that yes, it was just her, and that no, the rest of the class did not possess the same encyclopedia imprinted brain that Lynx had.

In other words, she was The Overachiever.

There was one in every grade, class, school, whatever. And now she was queen of them all. Lynx wanted to pound her head on the desk.

_Great. Now they'll think I'm some obsessive geek with no life outside school. Just. Damn. Wonderful._

Those human genocide plans were looking more and more appealing by the moment…

* * *

It was lunchtime.

In Lynx's dictionary, that translated into Sleep-Like-The-Dead time. There was no one to watch her, and no need to be alert for sudden teacher attacks. She even brought a fluffy pillow _just _for this purpose.

At her old school, where bitches freely roamed the halls, and Lynx was forced to establish control via fear-inducing violent tendencies, everyone knew to keep their distance. So of course, at lunch break, she can nap undisturbed.

Here, at the sparkly, innocent, Nami-Chu that was relatively bitch-free, Lynx didn't quite have the heart to traumatize these people, seeing as Hibari Kyoya was the resident Big Boss, and he took that far beyond anything Lynx can pull.

Seriously. The students trembled with fear. The temperature dropped twenty degrees. And she could've sworn that even the _thunderclouds _came to his call!

So where does that leave Lynx?

Surrounded in a crowd of friendly, innocent little brats who were readily murdering Inner-Lynx with their niceness and caring questions and naive curiosity.

And oh sweet flying mushrooms! The sunshine! The sparkles! It BURRRNS! A creature of darkness cannot come in contact with creatures of light! SHE'S LOSING HER CREEPYNESS! And _you_! Pink, sparkly, angel person with the blond hair and roses in the background! STAY AWAY!

It was the most Lynx had talked in _years. _Her unused facial muscles were wearing away fast and even the short, one-word answers didn't ward these people off! No, apparently, Lynx had been pegged as the 'cool and silent' type, and was bombarded with questions from a meter away!

Wonderful.

So people were willing to talk to her, but not be friends with her? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of talking to her in the first place? And aw hell, those burning gazes! Somebody help! Before Lynx poofs into a pile of ash like any self-respecting vampire!

"Ahahaha! Guys, don't crowd her!" They technically weren't. Like she said, questions from a meter away. Except for blond sparkle girl who was unfortunately not intimidated. Damn. "She needs time to finish her lunch! So why don't you come back later?"

If Lynx wasn't an anti-social homicidal person, she would have hugged the Ahahaha-ing Master right then. He was her savior. All hail the Ahahaha-ing Master! Now if he would just stop that eye burning grin…

* * *

When the crowd dispersed, Lynx couldn't help, but let out this long sigh of relief. _Finally. Any longer and they would've been on trial for murder. Really. I could've died right then._

Non-bitchy human environment was new to Lynx. Coming to a world where violent, morbid tendencies were unnecessary for survival was a huge change for her. She had _always _relied on that to ward off her foes. But…That particular talent was sadly lost when presented with droves of innocent, good-willing little lambs who burned her soul with those awful, loving gazes.

Where were the hateful glares? Where were the mocking words? What happened to the fear-induced personal bubble that took up three meters?

Lynx was sure that she was slowly dying without her usual sources of evil energy reserves.

Yamamoto Takeshi was not helping. How the hell does he do that perma-smile thing? It's not normal!

But. Lynx's evil energy needs aside…

"You again!"

Suddenly, a grey octopus was thrust in Lynx's face. She stared wide-eyed for a moment before making the connection between Gokudera's hair and octopuses and finally figured out the deep, unconscious similarities between the two.

_Oh. So THAT'S why there were those octopus moments…_

Lynx stared at Gokudera impassively and wished that she could go ahead and grab that fluffy pillow hidden in her bag. It would help. It _always _helps. Especially when Lynx had made it fire, water, and electricity proof. Possibly even nuclear weapon proof. But that's irrelevant.

"Ma, ma, calm down, Gokudera! She's our friend, after all!" Yamamoto cheerfully proclaimed, swinging an arm around Gokudera's neck.

Now it was the Ahahaha-ing Master's turn to be looked at funny.

When the hell did they become friends? They met _once. _And during that one meeting, Lynx had been unceremoniously dragged to some weird (abet nice) sushi restaurant where the evil Hitler baby had condemned her to this life of hellish sparkly people.

Was Gokudera the only sane one around here?

("Get off, baseball freak! I'LL KILL YOU!) ("Ahahaha! Don't play with fireworks, Gokudera!) (YOU-!)

Well, only if you disregard his violent bombing tendencies, but that was normal in Lynx's world therefore…Gokudera was the sanest.

It's unbelievable the world hasn't exploded following that statement.

Lynx turned away from the now once again quarrelling pair, to the one person who watched alongside her with deadpan eyes. She decided that, despite being severely tired via evil energy depletion, she should ally herself with the less-sane-but-still-kinda-okay person called Sawada Tsunayoshi. The guy who broke her ribs.

Or Tuna-boy. That name just kinda stuck in her head, and Lynx didn't bother correcting her inner self.

She poked him.

He jumped. Then turned to her.

"Lynx-san! Err…this is…um…" He scrambled for words, obviously at loss of what to say.

"Are they…always like this?" Lynx had to know. She even said _a complete sentence_ so she could know!

Wow. Hanging around non-bitchy nice people really _does _develop her social skills! Now Lynx just had to figure out whether that was a good thing or a bad thing and then we can roll along from there…

Sawada Tsunayoshi looked away with a somewhat weird expression and he suddenly turned an odd gray-ish blue and you could practically see the emo squiggly line things above his head. He drooped. Then spoke, in a hollow, depressed, WHY ME? sort of tone.

"Yes." He said mournfully. "They are."

Lynx patted his shoulder and nodded with sympathy. She could feel his pain. And this is only the third encounter.

Wow, was she glad that they were totally not connected in any remote way. If Lynx were to hang around a bomb wielding maniac and a permanently smiling so-called baseball freak (Lynx didn't even want to know what that meant. She just knew to run like hell if Ahahaha-ing Master ever gets his hands on a baseball bat. It'll save her from getting traumatized. She was sure of it.) along with that Hitler baby, she would likely suicide within the week.

So. Lucky her. To not be connected with them, that is.

_Yeah. _Lynx thought, as she and Tsuna watched the dispute, _we're totally not connected._

Lynx refused to even consider the idea that yes, they were connected, yes, she was doomed to die within a month, and yes, she'll either die by dynamite spamming, or eye-burning smile overload. It's very damaging to her health.

"Well," Lynx began, even as Tsuna once again started watching the fight "…Bye."

She turned to go, but was hit with a deep sixth sense that told her to turn around. She obliged accordingly. And wished she hadn't.

Sawada Tsunayoshi suddenly turned to her with an expression akin to that of a desperate man, lost in sea, who finally found a thread of hope – a lifeline. Lynx did not like that look. Not at all. She tried to inch away, but suddenly she found Tuna-boy holding her shoulders with strength she never knew he had.

"Lynx-san!" He exclaimed, ignoring the dynamite that had started flying behind him. "Please don't go! Don't leave me with them! I know they're my friends, but sometimes, at a time like this…Don't leave me to die!"

It ended with a very persuading puppy-dog eyes filled with tears and Lynx's Inner Self cringed and groaned.

_Noooo….Not the puppy-dog eyes….Damn my obsession with cute animals …Here, I give you the finger, now go away…_

Luckily, Lynx did not flip the finger in reality (actually, I don't think she ever has. Then again, she's never done 95% of the things that Inner Lynx does…) and instead, slowly felt Sawada Tsunayoshi's secret psychic manipulation powers seeping into her.

That's the only thing to explain what happened next.

"…Okay." Lynx said, blinking as Tuna-boy sighed with relief.

Then reality caught up and Lynx realized that she just sent her life on a trip to hell with no return. She felt a sudden urge to cry. To subdue this urge, Inner Lynx curled up in a ball and grew creepy mushrooms as she waved a randomly appearing sharp object in Sawada Tsunayoshi's general direction. How could he do this to her?

_This should be illegal, _Lynx thought, twitching as Tsuna sighed with relief and gave his many thanks.

She _really _wanted to kill something. Where were those evil, conniving bitches when she needed them? Sheesh. Now she would have to vent by grinding up some poor piece of machinery via blender in front of a camcorder and spam it across Youtube for the world to see…

"Ne, Lynx-san?" Tsuna said, digging around his pockets for something. His hand reemerged with a cell phone. He fiddled with in.

Lynx gave him her pointed 'I'm-listening-so-TALK' stare and waited for reaction. No reaction occurred.

That called for action. She had…to talk.

Lynx mentally frowned. She was talking much more than usual these days. Normally, it was about five words a week, not counting answering a teacher. Was it a good thing? Probably. _They_ had always said she needed to talk more, after all.

"…Sawada-san."

"Eh?" Tuna-boy seemed taken aback. "You can call me Tsuna!"

Lynx nodded.

"Anyway, since we're friends and all, want to exchange numbers? It's hard to contact you in class, and I don't know where you live…" Tsuna looked at her with those damnable puppy-dog eyes. Psychic power at work yet again. Lynx needed to train herself to be immune to this.

"…Fine." Lynx dug out her cell phone and flashed the number at Tsuna, who somehow added his number to her empty contact list along with Yamamoto Takeshi and Gokudera Hayato. Huh. So that was his last name. And wait a second – When the hell did she give him permission to do that?

Tsuna handed her the cell back with a smile and Lynx felt an unfamiliar pulling sensation at the edge of her lips, as though that perma-frown was…not frowning anymore.

"Ah! Kuromine-chan! You looked pretty when you're not frowning! Smile more!" came the sudden voice of Yamamoto Takeshi.

"…Thanks?" Lynx was mystified. Was this because of that strange, non-frown feeling?

Gokudera also looked this way. The two had apparently stopped fighting.

"HUUH? How the hell is that a smile? That's a straight line! Completely straight!"

Lynx retaliated by fishing out a mirror from her bag (she had no idea _what _was in there. She pretty much stuck things in and they never came back out. It's like some mini-garage sale down there…And her bag _was _pretty deep…) and flashing it at Gokudera, who looked back at his own scowl.

"What the – "

"Ahahaha! She has a point, Gokudera!"

"Shut up! I can still smile when I want to!"

"Ah! Gokudera-kun!"

And then the cycle starts all over again.

Lynx wondered why she was still there.

It was probably because her terribly lonely, un-human-oriented conscious had went into something of shock due to the surprising turn of events, and as such, Lynx's Get-The-Hell-Away-From-People instincts had momentarily shut down.

Then she had remembered that they were the bane of her existence and would likely cause the death of her, and proceeded to vanish accordingly.

People were still the same to her. Mostly. But these people were just slightly more…interesting. That was it.

And in a warped, dangerous sense that leads to Inner Lynx's multiple suicide attempts which totally outweighed the whole interesting factor.

Therefore…

Lynx still winded up returning to her human genocide plans.

_Fwuhaha. I fail at evil laughs. But whatever. I suddenly crave coffee for some reason… _

* * *

Somewhere, in a place far away and loaded with coffee, Reborn (damn lucky bastard) observed the whole scene.

He smirked.

"What do you think, Leon?"

Leon blinked and then did this indication that he was happy that only Reborn can understand.

It roughly translated into something resembling "I like this girl." due to the fact that as an animal lover, Lynx excluded an extremely misleading secret aura sensed by animals only, and as a chameleon who like being fussed over, Leon was more than a bit bias.

But Reborn didn't know that.

Which is why….

"Then it's settled. Kuromine, Lynx is joining the Family."

…Lynx's doom was officially sealed by the Vongola Crest that was stamped onto her profile. Poor kid.

* * *

It was the weekend. Lynx had transferred in on Friday, in time to catch a couple tests and a physical exam.

Shitty luck always _had _haunted her.

Lynx lay on top of her bed, holding her cell phone, with her fingers hovering just above the 'Delete' button.

It was just a twitch. Just a single twitch and then she can erase the ever so troublesome Sawada Tsunayoshi – no, 'Tsuna' from her life, along with his pack of mentally unstable cronies with violent tendencies.

So why was she hesitating?

Usually, she doesn't even bat an eyelash when she deletes people from her life, but this time…

What was it about that Tsunayoshi boy that had her stop? Lynx was sure it wasn't something ridiculous like love. She was also sure that the other two, Yamamoto, and Gokudera, had nothing to do with it. There was just this nagging feeling in the back of her head, in a place where she locked away that – Pause.

The place she locked away.

_Of course. _Lynx had figured it out. _He reminds me of _her. _Actually, of _both _of them. Like some combination of the two. No wonder I haven't ditched him.…That's a bad thing. I should stop seeing him, or else I might – _

"RRRIIINNNNGG!" Her ringtone blared.

Lynx gave a start and nearly fell off her bed as the phone in her hands rang just as she moved to click the 'Delete' button, possibly shortening her lifespan by a few years, and scaring the living daylights out of her. Seriously. What the hell kind of coincidence was this?

The stupid thing rings _just _when she's going to press that button? Is the universe trying to tell her something?

But…who the _heck? _Nobody calls Lynx. It's like some secret law of the universe. And the laws of the universe do not exist to be disobeyed. So why the hell was someone calling her?

Lynx checked caller ID.

Sawada Tsunayoshi. There was a little fishy (Tuna, maybe?) symbol by his number. How did that happen?

No matter.

Lynx held the phone motionlessly and didn't reply.

Should she? Or shouldn't she? Listen to _their _advice? Or to her own desires to stay locked away?

The phone rang a couple more times and Lynx's decision was made for her. Or so she thought. Because a few seconds later, there was a 'DING!' that signaled a text (How the hell did he type so fast? Lynx texted at the speed of a snail! It took her like five minutes per word!) and she couldn't help, but look at the message that flashed across the screen.

_**Lynx-san! Plz go to Nami-Chu! I'M ABOUT TO DIE!**_

_**-Tsuna **_

Lynx's first thought: _Why are there always Tuna-like symbols around? (_There was one by his name. But stupid Microsoft Word had something against tuna, and so, the symbol is missing. The author was not pissed off at all.)

Then, _He sounds kind of desperate. Maybe I should go?_

He _had _conveniently given her his location, and Lynx had a funny feeling that she'll be riddled with guilt if she doesn't go. And Lynx hates feeling guilty. But…It was Tsuna.

Tsuna was the word that went along with anything crazy, explosive, or Ahahaha related. And Lynx really wasn't in the mood to deal with all that on this gorgeous weekend morning. She considered brushing him off.

* * *

On the other side of town, Reborn, in a fit of sporadic genius hitmen-ness, sent murderous intent in the general direction of Lynx's building.

Everyone in the way was accordingly traumatized.

But the important thing was, that the spine-chilling feeling would reach the intended target. Everything else was irrelevant

* * *

On the far side of town, Lynx suddenly felt odd shivers down her spine. Okay, so maybe she shouldn't brush him off. It'd be a bit cruel. And, well, she suddenly had a _really_ bad feeling. As in the 'Shit, someone's gonna die soon so change your decision NOW, damn woman' kind of bad feeling. So. She acted accordingly.

She also ignored the little voice in her head nagging to move to another country. It's been there since Tsuna arrived. Inner Lynx repeatedly flipped it the finger to no avail.

Changing into an oversized dark sweater, Lynx pulled on her boots, and clipped the belt over her shorts.

She had weird clothing choice.

The sweater obviously indicated winter, but then the shorts say otherwise, and then the boots were cowboy-like and vaguely anti-seasonal and in the end, one should give up trying to figure out how Lynx coordinates herself.

But the truth was, Lynx just grabs a piece of clothing from each category (top, bottom, shoes) and slaps it on. She liked to be comfortable. And, well, she only _had _one pair of shoes other than the school uniform set, and that was the anti-seasonal boots.

So voila. There you go. And don't mind the fact that she's wearing shorts in the middle of freaking winter.

She's poor. Poor people adapt.

And if adapting meant wearing shorts in the middle of effing winter, then _fine_, she'll ignore the fact that she's definitely getting a new variation of frostbite, and that aw fuck it, those boots weren't doing their jobs! AND SHE WAS STILL INDOORS!

Lynx made her slow, turtle-like way out her apartment, absentmindedly grabbing a bag that's slung over the waist.

It was Schoolbag The Second. Just…not for school use. But other than that, they were pretty much the same – endless pits of random stuff crammed down oh-so-far and never to be seen again until some drastic, life-changing moment arrived.

Lynx sometimes wondered if the two were actually secret black hole buddies.

I mean, they were both black in color, and relatively not-effing-huge, but seriously. Lynx could've _sworn _that she moved half her room in there, and that stuff of ancient history probably coated the bottom of the bag, and could be dug out and sold to various museums of a sort. It was like carrying around some kind of huge window-shop.

She made her peaceful way to Nami-Chu, the snow of winter coating the grounds, and holy flying mushrooms, _was that dynamite snowballs?_

Lynx stopped and stared at the gates of Nami-Chu.

Amidst the field of pretty snow, the not-so-pretty scene consisted of one green Leon-ball sitting on some snow pike, and purple, poisonous bullets being fired, and men in black wielding bazookas, and some crazy boxer deflecting all that, and some random HAHI! Girl trying and failing to sneak across the field with some white sheet, and Ahahaha-ing Master was displaying his deadly murderous techniques – no, baseball skills, and then there was the…

Yeah. Lynx was undeniably screwed.

_I'm…going to get killed, aren't I?_

Sad thing was, that statement didn't even come _close _to how fuckshit crazy Lynx winded up, and yes, she'll need some delicate mental care after this, and shit, Sawada, stay the hell away! And why the heck is there a giant turtle in the schoolyard IN THE MIDDLE OF FRIGGIN' WINTER?

Shouldn't they be in hibernation? What what the hell kind of steroids did people feed that thing?

Long story short, it was a disaster.

Lynx wished that she had listened to that sweet, logical voice in the back of her mind (Inner, stop strangling the Voice of Wisdom) and run away to another country.

And then some. Just to be safe.

* * *

**POLL ON MY PROFILE FOR WHO LYNX SHOULD INTERACT WITH MORE.**

**Thank you for reading and reviewing!**


	3. To Escape The Baby Hitler

Lynx collapsed on her bed, half-drowned in melting snow, and desperately trying to remember where her passport is, so she can move to Antarctica – no, Australia, because she really hated snow at the moment and Kami fuck it, from now on, her belated New Year's resolution is to stay at least five miles away from Sawada Tsunayoshi at all times.

Just disregard the fact that they live in the same town. And the same school.

But starting off with the main character's mental breakdown and growing desire to run away to another country as she lies on her bed, slowly dying of agonizing frostbite is more than a bit awkward, so let's start explaining what the hell happened.

It had started when Lynx was threatened in a less-than-subtle manner by suspicious unknown forces that may, or may not take the form of a cosplaying Hitler baby with god-awful talent at directing killing intent, and subsequently compelling her to answer Sawada Tsunayoshi's desperate plea for help via text message.

She arrived at a scene of epic war, in which nuclear weapons are long abandoned, and mankind instead resorts to poisonous acid snowballs, and creepy child androids that have the fighting capabilities of a squadron of next generation war tanks.

Which totally wasn't scary. Not. At. All.

And don't mind the distant black dot down the street which was unmistakably the bloodthirsty school perfect as he assaulted random crowds with snowballs filled with questionable items.

Yes. Just ignore that and you have a perfectly normal weekend scene right out of Winter Wonderland, Hell Verse.

Lynx was hit by the sudden return of survival instincts as her body screamed 'Run, bitch, RUN! Run like you've never run before!'' but her mind screamed, "Aw, _hell _no! Stay! This scene is too interesting!" and in the end, that moment of indecision was what caused the unavoidable end of Lynx's happy, relatively-psycho-free world.

The infant, Reborn, was the first one to notice Lynx's presence as she tensed her legs, ready to make an epic escape and break all Olympic speed records, held back only momentarily by that action-deprived part of her brain with NO common sense whatsoever.

He reacted inhumanely fast, and whipped out a rope from the same interdimensional pocket in which he receives his cosplay, and reeled Lynx in with much pleasure, as though he just landed a spectacularly large fish.

Inner Lynx let loose with bilingual pirate vocabulary, and tried to stab the not-so-small part of Lynx's mind that was common sense deprived and entertainment oriented. _It's all your fault! _Inner Lynx sobbed, as she strangled the imaginary form of said figure.

This was going to end badly. Very, very badly.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere that was _not _in the scary place known as Lynx's head, a cat-eyed girl was forcibly dragged onto the battlefield of crazy pseudo humans.

The evil Hitler baby smirked at her.

"Ciaossu."

Lynx looked at him, in a rare show of emotions, with a 'You can't do this to me! I'm too young to die!' expression.

"Reborn." She said, "…Please don't."

You hear that? That beautiful word reserved for potentially life-threatening situations? That thing that starts with a 'P' that's uttered once every century or so from this mouth? SHE SAID _PLEASE! _Spare her, oh devilish one!

The Hitler baby sparkled innocently and plastered a smile on his face.

Lynx's hope grew…

"Nope. No can do."

...Only to be smashed into pieces as the evil devil child in caveman's clothing blew a randomly appearing whistle, and slowed the epic snow war, diverting attention to their direction as each of the sides tried to pause in killing each other.

_I hate life. I hate life _so_ much. Somebody shoot me now, _Lynx thought.

Why couldn't the universe take pity on her every once in a while? Just because she's an evil, conniving bitch doesn't mean the big guy up there _has _to repeatedly torment her. Was it really even necessary? She hasn't even fulfilled that genocide plan yet!

The girl with blue-ish slate hair stared miserably as the last of the acidic snowballs hit someone in the face, and the battle came to a complete stop.

"Reborn!" came the voice of that traitorous Sawada Tsunayoshi. He's the cause of all this! How could he just call her to a war zone? Traitor, I tell you, _traitor! _This is why Lynx prefers having no friends! Because then people can't kill her on a whim!

A blond guy with a decidedly feminine hairstyle was the second to react, in a somewhat Tsuna-esque manner.

"Reborn! What was that for?" He yelled, obviously friends with the dude in black who was assaulted by purple snow bullets as a result of the baby's call.

"Yosh! Master Pao-Pao, is there an EXTREME meaning to this time-out?" Oh, now it was the crazy boxer guy who was deflecting military level siege with his bare hands. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

"Reborn-san!" Ah, Gokudera Octopus-Head, the universal blame for all that explodes. Lynx should have figured he was the cause of the dynamite snowballs.

"Ahahaha! It's important to take breaks sometimes!" Ahahaha-ing Master, legal name Yamamoto Takeshi, had revealed his Other Side, one full of baseball assassination techniques and a bone-chilling desire to kill, and Lynx made a mental note to steer clear of him in the near future. If she has one.

"Reborn~! Who's the little girl tied up behind you?" Pink hair, purple snow, yeah, this lady is decidedly crazy on some level.

"EHH? There's a little girl tied up behind Reborn?" Tsuna turned and looked closer. "Lynx-san!" He exclaimed, suddenly looking notably relieved. "You came!"

_Sawada Tsunayoshi, someday I will definitely kill you. Someday…_

And why on earth was she being called a little girl by some scrawny Tuna-boy who was shorter than her?

"Ah! Lynx-chan!" came a sweet, feminine call.

Now it was _her_. It. Thing. Whatever.

Lynx had totally known that sparkly pink angel/blond/creature of light thingie was not normal and by being at the scene of epic war and somehow looking perfectly happy and not a hair out of place, Lynx was even more confirmed of her suspicions: _ She's not human! _She a reincarnation of some past saint or something!

Then again, Lynx herself was more of half evil, malicious, unnamed creature of darkness rather than 100% human psycho, so she's not really one to talk.

"A new member is here!" Reborn proclaimed, pulling off the ropes and calling his green glowing blob back. "Now, we can begin the official Round Two between Team Bianchi, Team Cavallone, and Team Vongola plus one!"

And so, Lynx was abruptly cast into a group of psychotic Vongola brats as Reborn announced the rules for round two, and she stood by Tsuna, giving him a "How could you?" look that he sweatdropped at.

But before he could say anything, the HAHI! Girl with the white sheet pushed him aside and approached Lynx, who's inner self immediately recoiled from the waves of killer bubbly-ness.

_Ow. Again, why can't people stop burning my eyes?_

"Hahi! I'm Haru! I haven't seen you before! What's your name and how do you know Tsuna-san?" She cheerfully said, walking into Lynx's personal bubble.

'_Tsuna-san.' Really? So in the end, everything is traced back to him. Of course._

"…" Lynx did not respond. But that girl was damn _persistent._

"So, so, so?" She said excitedly.

"…" Lynx unfortunately sneezed at that exact moment, and her silence was broken, and probably mistaken as accidental, thus losing the wanted bitchy effect. And then Tsuna just has to speak up.

"She's a classmate!" He said, as Reborn let Turbo-Leon loose. Then, just when Tsuna was going to begin a conversation with his voice-of-sanity-among-crazy-mafia-people, Yamamoto swept him away from Lynx, and dragged him into the battlefield.

"Ahahaha! Come on, everyone, we've got a game to win!"

"Jyuudaime! Let's go!"

"EXTREME!"

And the war continues.

* * *

Team Poison-Lady-With-The-Cow-Kid-And-Chinese-Kid started fighting with Team-Idiotic-Looking-Blond-With-Girly-Hair, and Team We-Love(Lynx: Hate.)-Tsuna was temporarily forgotten in the fray, so everyone else tried to capture the glowing green goo accordingly.

But then the two fighting teams noticed, and turned both their attacks on the formerly neutral party, causing Tsuna to predictably freak out as a combo of purple and ice snowballs streaked their way.

Lynx, used to dodging random stuff thrown courtesy of a bitch brigade, had little problem maneuvering herself out of harm's way. Then she sauntered off to hide somewhere as Tsuna looked on with horror at the snowball heading towards Sparkly-Blond-Angel's way, only to not make it, and the snowball deflected by EXTREME boxing guy.

Ducking around the rain of deadly bullets, Lynx safely managed to retreat a good distance away, as Gokudera let loose with bombs and took out a few of his own teammates and random men in black. Lynx proceeded to stand with her arms crossed and ask the universe if it can cut her some freaking slack for a change.

Seconds later, Yamamoto and Blond Dude raced for the green goo and came down the stairs as a giant human snowball, landing before Tsuna, and making the resident creature of darkness deadpan even more.

Lynx decided that whoever came up with 'Ask, and thou shall receive,' is an undeniable idiot with no experience in life.

On a brighter note, a giant turtle on steroids which appeared out of thin air had successfully taken out the remaining contestants (minus Tsuna), it seemed the war was over, and Lynx pulled through with all limbs intact.

She was mildly surprised. Maybe the universe _did _answer her request…

"Bianchi, Ryohei, and I-pin are all missing." Reborn calmly stated.

"Huh? Wait, am I the only one left?" Tsuna shrieked.

"Nope. You're forgetting someone."

"EH? Who?"

Lynx made no comment.

Tsuna spun around, looking for this last person who HE called to the battlefield and then promptly forgot about because Oh, who cares if Lynx had to drag her ass out here in the middle of some winter battlefield for Tsuna's sake only for him to COMPLETELY FORGET and leave her to die?

Inner Lynx sulked dejectedly in the mushroom filled corner.

Leon Turbo seemed to have been drawn to her animal loving secret aura that is detectable to non-humans only, and raced across Tsuna's line of view, thus leading him to chase after Leon, who headed towards Lynx, and caused Tsuna to finally remember.

"Lynx-san! You're still here! Can you catch Leon?" He cried, before tripping over thin air, and consequently pushing the task onto Lynx.

She raised an eyebrow (_Really? REALLY? Trip over thin air, why don't you…)_ and walked towards the school exit, fully intent on ditching, only to stop when Leon was picked up by…Hibari.

Well shit.

Lynx stopped and stared.

Obviously, Leon was a smart cookie who did not desire imminent death, and immediately transformed into a snowball that trembled in Hibari's hands as the head perfect made his way forwards. Lynx backed away slowly as Tsuna recovered from his trip, and looked up to the full blown murderous intent of Hibari's glare.

He "HHHIIIEEE"-ed and hid behind Lynx, much to her chagrin. She turned to the perfect.

"…Hibari-san. Why…are you here?"

He had no reason to kill her. There's no way he should kill her. He WILL NOT kill her.

"There was a good snowfall, and I was itching for a fight so I figured I'd pound anyone here. You two are the last ones standing, so I suppose you're my targets."

So basically, he's going to kill her.

…_Dammit._

In the end, Lynx winded up putting all her years of bitch brigade induced skills into running away from Hibari and his metal-shattering snowballs that can quite easily take someone's head off as Tsuna ran around like a headless chicken and pretty much did the same, before tripping again, and grabbing that I-pin kid, and then somehow stopping Hibari and triggering an explosion and ending the day spectacularly.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, Kuromine Lynx, missing in action. I win."

And that's why she oh-so-desperately wanted to find that damned passport and move away to some place far, far away from the curse that was Sawada Tsunayoshi's life of complete madness.

* * *

Lynx woke in the tree of some treacherous looking rainforest with a mega-sized anaconda that seemed to have been drawn to her animal loving aura.

She looked at it curiously and it blinked back at her, forked tongue flickering, purple laced five inch fangs flashing.

Her eyes immediately softened.

_Cute, _she thought.

The word 'cute' had just been used to describe a giant, human-eating beast with toxic fangs and huge, powerful coils capable of crushing a metal car into smithereens.

…

How totally normal.

Lynx stroked it affectionately, as though the two have been friends all their short, pathetic lives and she mentally mused that why can't the world have more of these adorable creatures? She'd take a giant anaconda over human company any day.

Somewhere nearby, a suspicious "HHIIEEE, SAVE ME!" resounded, but after that snowball fiasco, Lynx had promptly taken to avoiding Tsuna like the plague, and blowing up her cell phone to get an ungraded, tuna-free version that had zero contacts.

Just the way she liked it.

And this time, it was going to STAY that way. Sawada Tsunayoshi shall never touch this phone…

That aside, how the hell did she wind up in the middle of some rainforest? Was this even Japan? And since when did rainforests have tutu-wearing bears dropping from the sky?

_Wait, what?_

Lynx took another looked and realized yes, there were strange ballerina/bear hybrids spinning down the path, and no, she did not know the boy that was running away screaming with his pack of psychotic cronies, and hell yes this was most definitely that stupid Hitler baby's fault, and WHY DOES THE UNIVERSE HATE HER?

Hasn't she been tormented enough already? There should be a rulebook for this kind of thing!

Regardless, Lynx watched with the usual deadpan eyes as they shrieked and hollered and panicked in general before scrambling up on a ledge.

A nearby tree branch shook, and her precious anaconda buddy slithered away.

It was a pity. She liked the little guy, too.

Then, a giant, spiked, brownish…chestnut thing…came down to a stop besides her. That was Reborn, wasn't it? Wait, dumb question – who ELSE would dress up like a giant, messed up version of a chestnut?

"Ciaossu."

Lynx waved warily and sat up, concealed in the tree.

Reborn was a smart individual, and had earned Lynx's grudging (hateful) respect, what with all the shit he pulls, and the fact that he can get one over her. And she didn't really hate him COMPLETELY, per se.

She just had this…_feeling_, that he was so much more than he seemed, and that he can inflict severe bodily harm upon her if angered, upset, and/or just feeling sadistically evil.

So therefore, Lynx would willingly listen to him. Sometimes.

Like when she's stranded in the middle of some rainforest with no way back, no supplies, no reception, and no shitty group of people who would eventually come looking for her to see if she's still alive.

"Throw these." Reborn said, gesturing at the giant pile of chestnuts that matched his costume.

Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Blond What'sHisName had been drawn to the clearing nearby, and were in the middle of examining that atrocious sign written in hot pink and bearing mind-numbing warnings for what horrors were to come. Horrors that will be caused by yours truly, as she carefully grabbed a handful of chestnuts, and looked to Reborn.

His eyes gleamed and then…

Shazam! Chestnut artillery unleashed!

Lynx had to admit that deep in her dark, evil soul, she derived some amount of pleasure and amusement at pegging unsuspecting Dame-Tunas with spikey chestnuts while accompanied by a not-quite-boring fellow genius with the same evil mindset.

Reborn, Lynx decided, was someone you definitely want on your side.

And if he's your enemy? Run, bitch. RUN. Or die tragically and return to the earth as vaporized ashes.

After Yamamoto batted away the aerial artillery, Gokudera got up for his turn, and Lynx raised an eyebrow at the giant, peeled, on-fucking-steroids, possibly one-ton chestnut which Reborn somehow materialized.

He smirked. Threw it.

And did evil silent chuckles as Gokudera was nailed right in the middle by aforementioned steroid-pumped chestnut, and then spilled his dynamite, thus blowing up everyone in the vicinity.

"Let's go greet our guests." said Reborn, dropping out of the tree, and making his appearance.

Lynx had to look for an appropriate way out of the tree that would not end with her impaled on some evil, conniving branch, before following suit, and wondering when she can get the hell outta here and back to her puny little apartment where things did not explode, and she was not under constant threat of imminent death.

And she was cold. Really, really, holy-shit-my-toes-are-falling-off cold.

Lynx stood there through the whole 'OMG Lynx!' and then the 'This is death mountain!' and then the 'I'm Dino and you are?' speeches before they dragged her off to some randomly appearing waterfall where Tsuna was subjected to torture in the form of training and Lynx, Dino, and Reborn sat together on warm blanket with a heater.

Lynx was glad for the warmth. Now she won't be walking around like a toeless zombie when summer comes.

Now if only that annoyingly talkative blond would shut his trap and let her eat the damn oranges, all would be well, and Lynx can stop planning illegal ways to exit the mountain (many of which involve looting Gokudera's dynamite and striking down the first piece of flying machinery that comes within sight) and take a moment to enjoy life.

And then…The Tuna Depression.

"I quit." He says, looking down with the dramatic hair-in-the-face pose while Lynx raised an eyebrow and thought,

_Oh hell no, you are not leaving me here with smiling morons and some crazy guy who's armed with infinite dynamite and an ear-spitting voice, along with that evil Hitler child who's plotting my demise as you speak. Nuh-uh. _

Lynx put a hand on his shoulder. Tsuna looked up. They ignored the "Hey, what are you doing to Jyuudaime?" in the background. And then Lynx turned him towards a cliff, and pointed down at the beautiful scenery accompanied by bloodcurdling sound effects, and the return of her anaconda buddy.

Lynx made her 'Do-you-really-want-to-go-through-all-that-alone?' face, accompanied by the twin stares of both her, and the anaconda that climbed up her shoulder. The combined look was very dramatic.

Then she stroked her snake calmly as that little act was followed by "HHIIIIIEEE, Lynx-san, on your shoulder!" then, "HHIIIEEE! There's no way I can return on my own!" then "HHHIIIEEEE, why are you so calm!"

Lynx really wished her calmness would start rubbing off on him.

Those ear piercing 'Hiiee's were grating on her nerves – Like seriously, what kind of a scream was 'Hiiiee'? How the hell did he even _make _that noise? Whenever Inner Lynx tries, she just winds up coughing weirdly and soundly like she's sputtering 'Hi' in some foreign language!

But anyway, potential pain in the neck was averted, and now, they had to focus on running away from the once again appearing turtle on steroids, apparently named 'Enzio' while running across a bridge, and each trying their hardest to _not die._

A relatively simple goal. Normally.

But since nothing within five miles of Sawada Tsunayoshi can be 'normal' this seemly easy task is escalated to one of extreme difficulty and pain, because some genius decided to give the klutzy dude with no skill a long, dangerous whip which led to their literal downfall.

VERY literal – they fell right down a cliff, courtesy of Blond Idiot-san, and because Lynx seemed to be some sort of magnetic force between Tsuna and the ground, she ended up being the one to break his fall and was subsequently squashed.

_Ow. My ribs. It hasn't even been two weeks yet. Show some mercy._

No, of course the universe will not show mercy, and that is why the giant, very heavy anaconda who hitched a ride would fall after them and land on Tsuna, who was on top of Lynx, who was slowly dying for the countless time this week.

…_Anaconda-kun, I love you very much, but please, you're killing me, so get the hell off. Thank you._

Many apologies and broken spines later ("Lynx-san, I'm so, so sorry!" _No shit, you didn't wake up for HOURS_), the team was back on their feet, and the anaconda back around Lynx's neck, having apologized too, and was now being fussed over as Lynx ignored all humans within the vicinity.

Lynx wished she knew Parseltongue. That way, she can ask the snake how to get back to Namimori because apparently, they were only on the neighboring mountains, and not in the middle of Africa or something, like Lynx had originally thought.

Now, just what was that little red rectangle over there on the far side of – hold it.

Red rectangle. Namimori Temple. Red rectangle. Namimori temple – which was _red. _And near a mountain.

…

HAHA, SHE WAS SAVED!

Lynx looked at the red's direction, to the snake's eye, then back at the red, then the eye, then the red, then the eye, and then the anaconda seemed to get the message and slither to the rescue accordingly.

Lynx followed and wrote a note on some leaf with a spare pencil in her pocket which she wasn't aware of, before vanishing off, and following her lovely new acquaintance through a swamp, some trees, a river, some trees, a tunnel, some trees, a valley, some trees, and a dirt path followed by…some trees.

No shit. It's a forest. Of course there's a ton of trees.

Inner Lynx said that she didn't give a damn, and that while wilderness and trees were fucking gorgeous and all, SHE NEEDS HEAT, DAMMIT!

Hell, if Lynx wasn't used to being damn poor and meagerly clothed, she would have died five times over by now! Who gave Reborn to right to deny human privileges? She paid for her heat, and she's going to use every damn minute that she paid for!

With that trail of thought, Inner Lynx was left to grump about stupid babies and their stupid superior complexes and that she wants to go to a damn hotspring, and that this bitch needs some hot food fast, before she catches pneumonia AGAIN, and Thanks Anaconda-kun, here's a random glob of cold beef jerky, I'll see you again sometime, and oh sweet Kami!

She's finally home!

Lynx opened the door to her puny apartment and fumbled for her keys with stone cold fingers, gloveless and pale in the middle of freezing winter.

_Being poor sucks, _Lynx thought sullenly, trying not to think back to the past where she didn't have to worry over such things.

As the door opened, she had a brief flash of a warm house, a smiling face, and – _No! _Don't think about that. It'll only hurt, and bring about a brand new pain in the neck. She had more important things to do – like soak in a hot, foaming bubble bath and bury herself in bed at the first opportunity.

Thirty minutes later, Lynx fell asleep to phantom laughter, the smell of a home cooked meal, and off-key singing of a bright little girl, all…forever lost.

* * *

Sometime before Lynx made it home, back in the mountains with evening approaching, Tsuna eventually noticed that "OHMYGOSH, LYNX-SAN IS GONE!" only for Reborn to hit him upside the head and wave the note under his nose, watching as Tsuna's eyes widened comically before he exclaimed, "When did she slip away?" in a hysterical voice.

"Dame-Tsuna, she left right after you guys regained consciousness. In other words: A really long time ago. And none of you noticed. *Sigh* How pitiful. Especially Dino – you're my former student and you overlook such things?"

"Oi, Reborn! I had just woken up!"

"That's no excuse, stupid Dino."

"Ahahaha! I hope she makes it back alright!"

"Tch! I hope she gets herself killed!" _Less competition for Tenth's right-hand man!_

"Gokudera-kun!"

And after that revelation, they stumbled across the cake-oriented girls, started a forest fire, nearly got killed, once again encountered Enzio, and went through various life-or-death situations before finding their way back home, long after Lynx had fallen asleep in a warm, comfy bed and not particularly giving a crap about whether or not they had survived.

All in all, it was a normal day of Tsuna's (ever-so-peaceful) life.

* * *

**R&R!**


	4. She Encountered The Pineapple

In the dim, misty, positively silent hours of dawn, when people are asleep, and no morons with shit-eating grins are roaming about, Kuromine, Lynx haunted the morning streets with an infinitely creepy stare, much like her name sake - just less furry. And primitive.

If psychopathic homicides could love, then she would love the night and dawn, because there was no people and no brain-cell lacking idiots who were immune to her blatantly obvious murderous intent as she made her way to -

"Ahahaha! Kuromine-chan! What are you doing out here so early?"

Scratch that. Who the _hell _was out and about at this godforsaken hour? But before that, please say that someone else possessed that same exact laugh because Lynx really, really, desperately wished that this feared, evil laughter did not belong to –

"Yo."

- Yamamoto Takeshi. Damn it. Was this someone's way of attempted assassination?

"…Hi." Lynx said dully. _Go away. Please. Just go away._

Yamamoto Takeshi did not go away. He put an arm around her and steered her (against her will, but who cares?) to the park while Inner Lynx tried and failed to stab him with multiple katanas, proclaiming that eye-burning smiles should be made illegal in all civilized countries of the world.

Lynx glared at everything and threw the evil eye at some poor tree while Yamamoto started batting and talking randomly.

Maybe it was the early hours of the morning, maybe it was the secret toxic waste that's buried beneath Namimori, or maybe it was due to the fact that Yamamoto is secretly a robot who wasn't properly in 'ON' mode at this time, but he was suddenly going on about how he loved baseball, and that baseball meant so much to him, and that Tsuna changed everything, and it was all one big, deep, passionate speech which Lynx did not want to hear.

She blanched. What the hell was she supposed to say to _that?_

Yamamoto continued batting, and little did Lynx know, she bore a strangle resemblance to the wall in Yamamoto's bedroom which he absentmindedly talks to when he's depressed, bored, or just felt like talking.

It did not help that her hair was slate colored. And that she's practically mute. And that Yamamoto wasn't exactly fully awake either. So his thoughts were pretty muddled.

But nevertheless, Lynx was (surprisingly) _not _Yamamoto's wall and therefore, perfectly capable of feeling extremely uncomfortable and gaining an undeniable urge to respond. No matter how crappy it may be.

"That's…nice." Lynx began awkwardly. _What else? _She frantically searched her mind and wished that she had a cup of milk tea and more advanced communication skills, the latter more so, for once.

"It's…admirable…to have…something you work for…and…enjoy."

The Voice of Wisdom commented that Lynx has probably broken all records of shitty speeches in the past 5000 years and beyond. Inner Lynx told it to shut up and go away – who needs wisdom?

Yamamoto Takeshi looked at Lynx funny and paused in his (fucking perfect, flawless, and too damn skilled) practice swings, before laughing heartedly and giving her a suddenly much more cheerful, "Thanks!" and smiling brightly.

Strange.

To Lynx, that smile and laughter seemed to be a 'critical hit' to her evil energy reserves, rather than the usual 'super effective' amount of damage. Did Yamamoto's laughing skills just level up?

She shuddered at the thought. _No. Anything but that…_

If he was capable of leveling up, Lynx was sure that someday, the Ahahaha-ing Master will accidentally vaporize her with a lvl.100, health-damaging, smile of doom. Or something.

And that was not the way she wanted to die – Lynx was quite sure that she clearly stated in an elementary essay that her death will be on a dark night at the hands of some almighty assassin while armed with a cup of bubble tea and a chainsaw in the middle of some shady alleyway with a bloodstained red moon looking over her.

Death by billion-watt Yamamoto smile/laughter/any-display-of-eye-burning-happiness was not on her agenda.

So you can imagine her horror when the Ahahaha-ing Master showed off his new and improved smiles, something far superior to his past versions, and successfully stunning Inner Lynx into a temporary coma and freezing outer Lynx to the point where she was quite easily steered to some random hospital without her knowledge.

Which is creepy.

Because the park was on the east side of town, the hospital was on the far west, and Lynx was quite sure she had been keeping a death grip on the bench, so just how the hell did Yamamoto drag her there without her notice?

It was magic. It had to be.

Yamamoto was in league with Tsuna and his secret psychic manipulation powers and they were exorcists undercover, trying to find out if Lynx was secretly a vampire, so they can start exorcising her accordingly.

Which was not comforting at all. (Because Lynx was pretty sure she's at least _half _vampire…)

And so they made the significantly awkward trip through the hospital halls.

* * *

While going down the corridors, Lynx gave Yamamoto a questioning look and he laughed (Shit! Her evil energy! It's…it's wilting away!) before responding.

"Tsuna got hurt yesterday, so I'm visiting him along with my old man. I figured you'd want to come along! Ahaha!"

And then he steered her to Tsuna's room as Lynx wondered exactly _what _part of her looked like she would want to come along.

Were the waves of evil mind energy not convincing enough? Did he not see that blatant scowl on her face whenever Tsuna came within five meters? IS HE SECRETLY BLIND?

When Yamamoto ahahaha'd and opened the door to Tsuna's room with Lynx in toll ("Hey, Tsuna!" "Yamamoto! And…Lynx-san?" "…") and his father following behind him, Lynx decided that yes, Yamamoto was either secretly blind, or pointedly ignoring the obvious signs of '_Get me the fuck away from here!' _that rolled off Lynx like radioactive poison.

"Tsuna! Your subordinates really respect you!" Dino said.

Bullshit. Who was he calling subordinates? And what was Tsuna boss of again? He was Tenth heir to _something _but Lynx never quite heard exactly _what _it was, though she was relatively convinced that it would be something like secret underground boss or military commander successor…

She made a mental note to find out.

Lynx waved at Tsuna dully before going to systematically hijack sushi from the stand, along with Dino.

_Yum. Fresh fish. _

One has to wonder if Lynx was also secretly part cat. I mean, she's named after one, isn't she?

Then Lynx calmly walked out the room with a tray of sushi as that Lambo kid popped up and a flicker of dark pink hair was glimpsed in her line of sight, along with the crouching figure of Gokudera Hayato who was stalking Tsuna once again.

Lynx was sure it would end well.

Then she left Tsuna and was just casually walking down a relatively harmless looking corridor, yet to finish her delightful sushi, when that beloved sixth sense flared up screamed, 'Heads up! Dead corpse coming through!'

Lynx ducked as flying zombies sailed overhead, and then turned to the right to see none other than Hibari Kyoya sitting on a hospital bed, reading a book, yet succeeding in terrorizing the poor things that were his roommates while armed with tonfas.

He caught sight of her.

Lynx saw her life flash before her eyes.

Then she remembered the conveniently untouched tray of high-class sushi in her hands and decided to give it up in exchange for her pathetic life that can easily be ended by the horrifying monster before her.

She paused. What's her excuse? "…Thanks for doing your duty." Lynx said, before handing it over with a pair of chopsticks and exiting hastily.

_R.I.P, sushi-kun. Your delicious soul will be missed._

…What?

* * *

Later, when the newspaper reported suspicious explosions around the hospital, a Chinese bomber, and a strange new species of cow that can walk on hind legs, Lynx knew that her decision to leave before time was a very, very smart one.

_Wow. I'm finally developing common sense. It's like a miracle._

Yes, indeed. Lynx totally had common sense.

That was probably why she's running laps around Namimori being chased by the police for reasons unknown as a herd of rampaging hounds plagued the streets and accidently ran over Tsuna just as he made his way out the hospital.

Lynx didn't see what the problem was – all she knew was that the poor creatures at the pound were practically begging with literal puppy dog eyes to be set free, and, well, she tripped over something and then they got their wish.

What was so wrong about that?

Many things. Many, many things, Lynx. Don't you care about humanity?

No, Lynx _didn't _care about humanity, so all was well, and she should be considered perfectly sane.

"COME BACK HERE!"

"YOU BASTARD, HOW DARE YOU!"

Lynx picked up her pace. Wasn't she a girl?

* * *

Lynx was taking a stroll down the road, in high spirits with a giant cup of taro bubble tea as she eased up on the homicidal aura for once in her life (She can't ooze radioactive poison _all _the time, now can she? Lynx has happy moments too. Sometimes. Like, every once a decade or two).

Perhaps that was influenced by the pink sakura blossoms, and the nice, non-eyeburning cheerfulness of the day.

Lynx didn't exactly have a problem with cheerfulness in general – she only got homicidal when said cheerfulness involves her being in mental and/or physical pain, such as when someone is smiling, laughing, radiating sunshine, blinding her eyes, or sending Inner Lynx in coma with their confusing words of friendship.

Speaking of which, what was the definition of friends again? Lynx wasn't sure she had the right idea…

As Lynx walked by a sakura viewing reservation, she had a nagging feeling in the back of her head, and this time, she paused and listened to it.

The Voice of Wisdom should not be ignored when within five miles of Sawada Tsunayoshi. It may save your life someday. And, well, Lynx had too much past experience to _not _listen to that good old voice of hers.

'_Bitch. Start running.'_ Is what it said.

Lynx complied.

She both regretted and loved that decision – love, because dynamites had started flying the moment she turned tail, and regret, because she accidentally spilled her bubble tea in the process.

Which, of course, set her back on the track to once again start oozing radioactive poison as she plots the genocide of mankind like the psychopathic homicide that she shall always remain.

Life was good…

Not.

Lynx spent the rest of the day running away from Yamamoto while walking the streets, steering clear of Gokudera when visiting the grocery store, and hi-tailing it to the other side of town when she glimpsed a shiny black fedora which may, or may not belong to the next generation Hitler.

And then she ran into Hibari.

It was traumatizing.

* * *

Valentine's Day.

The extremely confusing day in which Lynx avoids humanity more than ever.

Why? Please make reference to your 'cliché shojo manga' section of the library and look up the phrase 'crazy fangirl symptoms.'

Even the socially-inept Lynx has fingered through a manga or two, and the horrid display before her seemed like something taken right out of some sappy shojo manga in which the main character hides behind the door and waited to present the love of her life with homemade chocolates.

Except, instead of just _one _crazy, love-struck girl, it's a whole freaking crowd that barricaded into Lynx's classroom because, Oh what a coincidence! Their dearest loves were the two most popular boys in _her _class! That didn't annoy the shit out of her at _all! _No, Lynx didn't care that they just stomped on her foot and invaded her personal space! Go ahead, she totally doesn't mind!

As a matter of fact, Lynx was just considering the idea of giving some chocolates of her own to the infamous Yamamoto Takeshi and Gokudera Hayato…

Filled with acid and poison and a healthy dose of illegal drugs.

No, of course she wasn't trying to kill them; it was simply a vague gesture of their so-called 'friendship.'

Isn't that what she's _supposed _to do?

…Um, no. Normal people do not try to kill their friends. Or acquaintances. Or random people down the road.

Inner Lynx responds by saying that rhetorical questions are rhetorical for a _reason, _and nobody cares for about what's normal theses days anyway.

But the point is, Lynx was currently sitting in the back of the room radiating even more killing intent than usual as the student population escalated and made her personal bubble shrink smaller and smaller with each new fangirl who barged into the room, clutching a box of chocolate and crying, "Oh, Yamamoto-kun!" or "Gokudera-sama!" as they lose all dignity and feminine pride.

She will never understand girls. Please disregard that Lynx herself is a girl.

And that's how the day went, with Lynx steadily becoming more homicidal by the moment, Yamamoto and Gokudera harassed by fans, Tsuna being a depressed little emo, and sparkly pink angel person who goes by the name 'Kyoko' remaining oblivious to _everything._

Then Tsuna burst out of his clothes shouting "REEBBOOORN!" and running off to the imaginary sunset as Lynx thought about how immensely disturbing it was for a guy to strip in 0.156 seconds and dash away at the speed of light.

No, Lynx was not timing him.

It was just kind of a habit for her to take note of tidbits of info. That's how she gets her necessary survival blackmail information, after all (former school, bitch brigade, bullying bastards, you know the deal. And Lynx can't exactly just kill them all, now can she? The life-insurance bills would be a nightmare).

Speaking of which…

Lynx, in a fit of extreme boredom, decided to start taking pictures of every fangirl with their stupid-ish, drooling faces as they stalked their lover of choice. She wasn't sure if she'll be using the material in the near future, but hey. Never hurts to be prepared.

Then the top of her desk opened and evil Hitler baby appeared from the secret compartment.

Lynx stared.

"Oi, go to Dame-Tsuna's house." He says.

Lynx kept staring. _Really? A secret compartment in my desk?_

Then Reborn cocked a gun and Lynx proceeded to jump out a two-story building via conveniently available window in order to fulfill his request.

Lynx showed up at the dreaded Sawada Household, where a real-live, brown haired angel by the name of Nana greeted her, before she was unrelentingly dragged into the kitchen by the ever-poisonous Bianchi. Apparently, the Italian hitwoman was immensely happy that a fellow 'assassin' had showed up to join her.

Then Lynx was attacked by rays of killer bubbliness yet again as Kyoko and Haru were put in the same room as her, alongside various materials needed to make chocolate.

Lynx swore, that if it weren't for the comforting dark aura of Bianch's natural evil energy, her dark, malevolent soul would have been long vaporized by the forces of holy light which took human form in Sasawaga Kyoko and Miura Haru.

"Kuromine-chan! It's great for you to join!"

"Hahi! The more the merrier!"

_Why me? _Lynx internally wailed.

And so, she was unceremoniously roped into making chocolate with the girls, and learning a decent amount of poison cooking capable of taking out three giant elephants in five seconds flat along with it. Lynx appreciated that part (Bianchi has been marked as 'cool' in her mental acquaintance list).

It gave her something to do for next Valentine's Day.

Tsuna, beware. Your life is in forfeit.

Apart from the moment where Bianchi chunked knives and forks at the door, and the bowl that was accidentally sacrificed for the sake of poisonous goodies, the process went relatively smoothly, despite the explosions and screams that occurred when Bianchi had gone upstairs for a second.

Lynx made a very fat vat of special dark chocolate. Bittersweet.

Then she thought ahead and went off to make anti-poisonous crackers with purple food coloring to replace Bianchi's cooking with because those bugs and worms sticking out were highly disturbing and frankly, seeing the counter slowly turn a shade of dark purple wasn't exactly reassuring (that could be her stomach!)

FYI: No, she was most definitely not doing it out of the goodness of her heart. Absolutely not. It's for her own purposes, dammit.

_**Thirty minutes and numerous explosions later…**_

"Your Valentine's Day chocolate – "

" – is finished!"

"…" _Can I just hijack the sweets and go?_

The non-evil pair of girls presented the chocolate with Lynx following behind them like a creepy shadow, wearing the default blank expression in contrast to the other pair's cheery smiles.

"They smell great!" Tsuna exclaimed.

"Mmhm! It's chocolate fondue!"

"…" _Sure. Let's go with that. _

Lynx then stood up and made a move to leave, totally not expecting some oblivious moron to grab her by the wrist and pull her back down, and thus, falling over and landing on her rear heavily.

_Ow. Who the hell?_

She turned. And almost grimaced.

"Maa, wait up, Kuromine-chan! Why don't you eat with us!" Yamamoto suggested with his infamous laugh.

Lynx opened her mouth to object and say a shortened version of, 'Oh hell no, I'm not spending a minute longer here than necessary!' but was interrupted when Tsuna added his bit, and then Gokudera followed up, along with Kyoko and Haru, and, well, Lynx just a _bit _surprised at their persistence.

Was it really that important?

"Of course, Kuromine-chan!"

…Did Kyoko just read her mind?

Nevertheless, she ended up staying and watching as Gokudera passed out when seeing Bianchi, and then Tsuna panicked upon being confronted by food that had 100% chances of bringing his heart to a stone cold stop, and Yamamoto just laughing it off as Reborn fell asleep.

Then Lynx gave a huge mental sigh and casually took a cracker ("Lynx-san!" _Crap, I forgot she doesn't know! _"Don't, it's poisonous!") and dipped it in chocolate before taking a small bite and fixing Tsuna with a deadpan stare.

"I…helped with the crackers…"

Which is probably why they were toxic fume free and bug-less. But deep purple, nonetheless.

Tsuna blinked. Yamamoto blinked. Gokudera groaned with his face buried in the carpet. And Bianchi nodded cheerfully as Reborn's snot bubble popped and they proceeded to enjoy the hopefully poison-free chocolate crackers made by the resident creature of darkness.

Said creature of darkness watched with a raised eyebrow.

_What, they seriously trust me? How do they know I didn't put illegal drugs in there or something?_

Afterwards, as Lynx made her way home, a large amount of bittersweet dark chocolate was deposited to the Head of Disciplinary Committee who happened to walk by.

No, she was not crazy. Yes, she wanted to be on Hibari's good side. And yes, there might have been a bit of residing poison in that chocolate, but hey, it's Hibari – what's the worst that can happen? (He can get a stomachache and then come murder you, Lynx. You might've signed you death warrant right then)

Luckily, Hibari was immune to poison because he's _Hibari,_ and therefore, Lynx lived to see another day…

For now.

* * *

Lynx was a lot of things – she was evil, conniving, psychopathic to a degree, constantly oozing radioactive poison, and extraordinarily anti-social to a point where it cannot be healthy, but…

She was still a girl. Of the female gender. A woman. Feminine to some degree that may be in the negatives when the person in question happens to be Lynx.

But the _point _is, as a girl, somewhere deep in Lynx's dark, black, frozen-over heart, she had a small weakness for things adorable to the point of inhumane-ness, and, well, this kid was just too cute.

So when Lynx saw a band of hideously disfigured creepy pedos in black suits (…She's not one to talk.) chasing after the aforementioned epitome of adorableness, Inner Lynx let loose with a mad fit of sporadically occurring dead-serious killing intent.

What that means: Basically, Lynx's everyday malicious aura is concentrated into one point and multiplied over and over until you can practically _feel _the killing pressure, and frankly…It was freaking scary.

No joke.

And just so you know, Lynx _may _have been secretly picking up tips from the ever so bloodthirsty Hibari Kyoya.

The black suited pedo men, because they were totally the smartest things ever, took no heed of Lynx's life-threatening, 'Fuck off or die' warning, and proceeded onwards, despite the shivers that suddenly wracked their spines.

Lynx narrowed her eyes.

_Bastards. It's ON._

And so, while the adorable kid hid in the doghouse, Lynx promptly unleashed a full squad of murderous bloodhounds to attack the pedo men who were discreetly sprayed with Reborn's special animal bait that Lynx snatched away at some point.

They ran away screaming accordingly.

Inner Lynx flashed a peace sign and a jubilant 'Ha! In your face!' as the little boy came out of the doghouse and approached her with a little hop in his step.

"Thank you, Kuromine-nee!"

…_Kuromine-nee? How does he know my name again?_

"…?"

"I'm Fuuta!" the boy chirped. "Kuromine-nee ranks #22 in girls who act cold but are actually very nice! Can you help me find Tsuna-nii?"

_Tsuna?_

Lynx deleted a good portion of that sentence and focused on the parts that made sense (Her? _Nice? _Boy, what mysterious universe is your head stuck in?) before blinking and saying something along the lines of "…Sure…"

The Fuuta kid cheered and jumped up and down while Lynx watched with that deadpan apathetic look that she really, really needed to fix, and then gave a little start of surprise when Fuuta started talking about how Tsuna was the Tenth Boss of the Vongola Mafia Family, and that he needed Tsuna to protect him, and yada, yada, yada.

Lynx followed along and guided him to Tsuna's house, while inwardly remarking that those names sounded awfully familiar.

If she recalls correctly, _they _had mentioned it before…but that was a nasty can of worms that Lynx was going to keep shut. Forever, if she can help it.

And Tsuna? A mafia boss? Lynx tried to imagine him as one.

_**~Start Scene~**_

_In the middle of a dark, Italian room with a badass gold throne, Sawada Tsunayoshi sat before his millions of subordinates and had a haughty, cold look in his eyes as he ordered the assassination of a fellow boss, among various other crimes and his subordinates squeaked and ran off trembling in fear, as someone came to serve him his highly expensive wine._

_Then, came a randomly appearing assassin, whom Tsuna defeated in less than five seconds, and then pointed a gun at his head as a cold threat flowed out of his mouth in a suave Italian accent._

"_I am the Vongola Decimo. Remember the name of the one who killed you."_

**_...Pffftt. *cough* No. Way._**

**_~End Scene~_**

Inner Lynx burst out laughing and outer Lynx shook her head to dismiss the image of innocent, naïve Sawada Tsunayoshi sitting on a throne and acting badass in general, because hell, this was _Tsuna! _Even if he _does _become a mafia boss, Lynx just can't see him acting…well…boss-like.

Unless Vongola created some miracle bullet that can transform Dame-Tuna-Boys into kickass, flame-wielding mafioso, Lynx really, really, just couldn't keep the image in her head.

Because seriously. _Tsuna. _Acting badass? Puh-leaz.

Lynx had no idea _what _she would do if that actually happened someday...

A hop, skip, and a walk later, she arrived at Tsuna's house with Fuuta in toll and nodded at Reborn, who watched with interest at their newest guest.

Then Lynx attempted to make a dramatic, desperate escape out the window where imminent death did not await her, but she was just a split second too slow and a familiar green rope captured her and chained her to the bed while she stared incredulously at the source of all that is damaging to her very much traumatized soul – Evil Hitler Baby Reborn.

_Really. REALLY.  
_

Reborn looked at her with a smirk.

"Yes, really."

_I hate you._

Lynx tugged pitifully on the stupid (freaking unbreakable, alien, lizard, titanium, steel, plastic, will someone just her what the hell Leon was?) rope with no avail before giving up and settling down.

"Kuromine-nee, I'll do some of your rankings!"

"…Sure." That cuteness demanded attention. Lynx couldn't just _ignore _the little brat, now could she?

"Okay! Ranking Star…I can hear you…"

And then Lynx horrifyingly found out that she was highly ranked in becoming the future wife of a mafia boss.

'Strong and independent types are suited for it' he says, 'As expected of Kuromine-nee!' he says.

_What. The. Hell._

Reborn smirked deviously with a 'oh, I'm going to make something terrible and evil out of this' face while Lynx shot him a look and was extremely thankful that Tsuna was not home.

"And Kuromine-nee also ranks…and…also for…and…"

The torture went on and on. (_Fuuta...please. Stop talking. Just stop.)_

A few hours later and after numerous new occupants entered the household, the hated rope was removed, Fuuta finally stopped tormenting Lynx, and the day proceeded smoothly as others had their turn.

"Haru's top three charm points!" What new branch of human did she fall into again? Because there is no way the female race has fallen so far. No. Way.

"Where do I stand in chances of becoming Tenth's right-hand man?" Of course. As expected of Gokudera Tako-Head. How did she see this coming?

"Do Lambo-san!" And by the way, does a hybrid between human and cow count as a human being, or are they just classified as something else entirely? Lynx would like to know.

Lynx nudged Gokudera's petrified form and received no reaction, other than a vivid image of the Tako-Head dissipating into dust, following his petrification.

And then after that…Love.

What fresh hell has arrived?

Ultimately, Tsuna loved Leon, but Lynx was having serious doubts that were only confirmed when it was stated that Futa's rankings get messed up in the rain.

Then Lynx calmly sipped tea as everyone else carried out Operation Save Fuuta From Creepy Pedos. She had played her part in unleashing vicious hounds on the group of men earlier in the morning, and deemed her assistance unnecessary.

Then she proceeded to vanish out the window, after waving goodbye to Reborn. ("Ciao." He had said.)

* * *

Lynx was out for a midnight stroll.

She had strayed a pretty good distance from the main parts of Namimori, and now entered the deserted, more country-like part of it, where some old building set to be demolished stood on an open plain.

Kouuyo Land or something?

Lynx really couldn't care less, but the place held a strange appeal, like one of those caves under a waterfall that screamed of possible danger, but the mystery was just so thick and tempting, and you can't help, but go there and see what happens.

Any normal person with a shred of common sense would have ignored that urge and ran away screaming like a good, smart little child.

Lynx is not a normal person, not a good, smart little child, and her common sense had gone off and died a very long time ago – as a matter of fact, its rotting remains were very smelly. She should bury it sometime.

So of course, Lynx has to go check it out.

Stepping forwards quietly, the moonlight just enough to make out shapes, but no faces, Lynx approached creepy-ass building where an odd pineapple shadow seemed to have flickered.

Which was odd. Because Lynx didn't even _like _pineapple, so why would she hallucinate about them at the middle of the night, in the presence of a highly dangerous creepy-ass wreckage place where she swore werewolves howled?

And not just werewolves – Lynx was very sure about her senses, thank you very much, and those things there could only be mindless zombies breeding in the dark and preparing to start the zombie apocalypse while vampires waited within the haunted mansion, and holy shit was that a mummy?

Damn. This place really _was _some sort of crazy.

Admittedly, Lynx's sardonic, pessimistic, oh-go-fuck-off-I-don't-give-a-damn attitude would fit in very well, but despite what you may believe, she was still at least 90% human.

Yes. 90% (at least it's over half!)

The remaining 10%? Don't ask. Lynx herself doesn't even know. But she's pretty sure it wasn't human – I mean, there has to be _some _reason for her homicidal tendencies, right? And what true human goes around plotting a way to end all humans in some violent, grisly form of bloody suicide?

Lynx drew up the conclusion that this was a hideout of some sort, maybe a local gang or something.

Hopefully.

She couldn't shake the odd feeling that there was something extremely powerful there, which she probably wouldn't want to confront, and that she really, really, needs to head back home, since it was what, 12:45 or something?

...

Did the pineapple shadow just move?

Something flickered at the edge of her vision. Lynx narrowed her eyes and backed away rapidly.

"Kufufufu~"

What the – What is this, Yamamoto the second, Version Extra Evil?

Lynx stared.

The pineapple figure moved closer and she stayed still, thinking about how amazing it is that there exists a creepy evil laugh that _doesn't _burn her eyes and send Inner Lynx into coma, and that despite the utter creepiness of this laughter, she'd rather deal with this than Yamamoto's sunshine smiles any day.

Oh yes. Yamamoto's laugh was much scarier. No doubt about it.

As a matter of fact, compared to the true Ahahaha-ing Master, this guy's laugh was actually quite relaxing and replenished Lynx's evil energy reserves back up to completely full, and not wilting away like its been for the past week or so.

Ah. How nice of him.

"What do we have here?" he remarked, standing a few feet in front of Lynx.

"…"

Lynx doesn't exactly have night vision, but she as pretty sure that the guy was tall, with an extremely straight nose, and dark hair that was modeled after a pineapple of all things. Yes, pineapple. Fruit. A giant yellow lower life-form.

WTF much? And just what is she supposed to say to someone like that?

_Hey, I love your hair! It's so…pineapple-licious looking! Is that the latest trend?_

Ahaha…Yeah…NO.

So basically, they examined each other for a while before Lynx broke eye contact and vanished off, leaving a highly amused pineapple-head behind.

"Interesting little girl…"

Lynx would be lying if she said that he was not just a _bit _creepy.

…

Fine, she'll be honest.

What the hell just happened? That was _the _creepiest encounter she's ever had! And that's coming from Lynx! Homicidal, very eerie, not-normal-at-fucking-all_, Lynx._

It says something. At least a little.

* * *

Lynx was not a happy child.

Some crazy bastard was busy killing time by targeting random people with fighting capabilities, like guys from fighting clubs, or the Discipline Committee, which really shouldn't concern Lynx but…she had an odd hunch that there was more to this than what meets the eye.

She scowled.

If they were targeting people with fighting capabilities…would her years of fighting the bitch brigade count? That was the only known records of any true skills which Lynx displayed, and the rest of her shitty history should be unknown at Namimori…

Lynx headed to school, on guard and wary, walking the streets cautiously.

There's not a very high chance of her being targeted, but the possibility was still there, and –

"Kuromine, Lynx."

Lynx whipped around.

Green uniform. Sturdy pose. An assassin's aura. Has she seen this guy before? Was he one of the creepy zombie things that were prowling around that Kouuyo Land place? Lynx could've sworn that he seemed familiar…

"…Who are you?"

"Kakimoto Chikusa. Kokuyo first-year. Prepare yourself."

And suddenly, a wave of needles spun out of his red yoyos while Lynx leapt to the side and rolled back on her feet, only to flip back immediately when another assault came flying out of nowhere as this Kakimoto Chikusa charged forwards in pursuit and Lynx lost all trivial thoughts as adrenaline charged through her veins.

_He's trained. An assassin of sorts. Those needles have poison._

…_I can't beat him._

A common saying: When you can't beat them, join them! But how the hell are you supposed to join them when you're too busy trying not to turn into some kind of deformed human porcupine?

While this guy might be some kind of trained assassin, Lynx had one hell of a shitty past to back her up, along with years of avoiding an immensely large bitch brigade that hurled sharp objects at her during random intervals of the day, and as such, Lynx wasn't totally helpless.

So they engaged in battle. Sort of. Not really.

More like, Lynx ran around dodging for her life in an extremely awkward dance-like pattern and Kakimoto Chikusa proceeded to calmly advance and try to brutally murder her, all the while wearing that emotionless mask that was even stiffer than Lynx's default expression.

The battle wore on, Lynx dancing out of reach, and Chikusa seeming to get irritated with all the stalling and picking up the pace steadily.

It went something like this:

_Left…Right…flip...Left….left, right, back, right, spin, left, right,left,spin,left,backleftrightfliprightleap – OW! What the heck is that giant pole lying there for?_

She was defeated by a random pole. Really?

Then the lower part of Lynx's right leg suddenly underwent surgery called, 'Let's become a cactus!' and now greatly resembled one, what with needles sticking out of it like some humanized version of the said plant.

It wasn't painful at all.

No, just imagine getting the shots, but a couple hundred at a time, and instead of being all slow and gentle, they ram in a whole fistful of needles up your arm until they sink an inch in, all the while you get to stare at the purple liquid that trailed down along with your red blood.

It wasn't disturbing. Of course not. What makes you think that?

Anyway, Lynx took a hard hit on the leg, and so was temporarily distracted, thus leading to her tripping over a fallen pole, which was, oh who would've thought, _right over a fucking concrete ditch._

You know, those places where the ground is suddenly like five inches lower than the ground a few feet back and stuff? That thing that caused your car to have an extra bumpy ride, or for you to fall out of your bike?

Yeah. That.

Which pretty much all added up to why Lynx was now lying on the ground looked very dead and comatose with zero signs of life and blood spilling from various parts of her body.

Was she really unconscious?

No. She wasn't, actually. Lynx was very much awake, and merely pretended to be out cold so that the evil bastard from above would be satisfied and leave her the hell alone like normal people.

Oh yes. Normal people. Lynx missed them. Very much.

Kakimoto Chikusa bent over and laid a pocketwatch on her chest before turning around and heading the other way with thoughts along the lines of _Mission Accomplished. _Or something. Maybe fantasizing about Mukuro, too? Nah. Doesn't seem like the type.

After Chikusa left, Lynx promptly got back on her feet and wiped the trail of blood off her mouth, before limping her way to the hospital and ignoring the throbbing pain in her leg, and the scraps on various parts of her body.

Her hunch was right.

These guys were by no means your average middle schoolers. They were assassins.

And they could only have one person worth targeting.

_Tsuna…_


	5. The Utter EVIL of First Aid

_**Hospital **_

Lynx stared. Glared. Attempted to convene evil mind waves through the damn wall. And failed.

Roughly twenty or so minutes ago, when she was in the process of vandalizing Namimori grounds via dripping conspicuous amounts of blood and sweat and poisonous goo, Lynx had the great (mis)fortune of running into a certain Hibari Kyoya.

(Somewhere on the other side of town, Sawada Tsunayoshi was thinking about how absolutely fortunate he was that Hibari didn't kill him - for once, he was spared of painful death! BANZAI! Someone else can die this time! Now he's gotta hurry and go check on Ryohei...)

And when the feared discipline chairman saw Lynx soaking his precious Namimori with aforementioned blood and sweat and poisonous goo, he promptly gave her the flattest glare of all time as she stared back with an oddly blank expression.

(She was also wondering why it felt like some suspicious jubilant soul had escaped a grisly fate by pushing it onto her instead...)

Lynx went still as stone.

"Herbivore." That evil eye was scary as hell.

He surveyed her injuries with a sharp calculating expression before whipping out the tonfas and probably about to say something like, 'for disturbing the peace, I'll bite you to death' and declare her tragic demise, but...but...She didn't want to die!

So, as the totally smart and clever thing Lynx was not, just before Hibari opens his mouth, she says...

"They're at Kokuyo Land."

And the evil eye intensified.

Inner Lynx curled up in feral position and muttered a mournful 'mission failure' under her breath as her words appeared to set him off even more.

Hibari glared at her suspiciously, tonfas still out in the 'I'll bite you to death' pose, as Lynx just stared back blandly (because really, it was to utterly die, or to utterly not to die. No middle ground. Cactus-fied leg, remember? Can't exactly run on that, y'know?)

"How do you know?" he demands, eyes boring holes through Lynx as she skillfully resisted the urge to hack up a lung - that would tick him off, and kill her in the process.

"I know."

She could have sworn his eye twitched, but then, something hard and cold knocked her out, and yes, she might have actually hacked up a lung, before greeting the bloodstained pavement for the second time that day...

To wake up to white.

White on white. White over white. White up, white down, white all over the damn place.

_And this is why I hate hospitals_, she internally deadpans.

Because aside from the germ-infected sick people and pointy objects and machines and whiteness and disinfectant smells and random moments of death by Hibari, hospitals just creeped the shit out of her.

Even more than zombies. Or mummies. Or undead pineapple-headed anonymous people.

But that's totally irrelevant.

So. Moving on.

No, wait. She can't move on - her leg's impaled by poisonous needles, dammit!

Lynx sighed before banging the back of her head on the bed in a reverse face palm to clear her head (the irony, anyone?) It'll take at least a few more hours before she can heal herself...

Joy.

* * *

_**Later, in the middle of a room in the middle of a hospital in the middle of nowhere**_

The thing about Reborn was that no one knows what the hell he's thinking.

It could vary from, 'Yay! Tuna torture time!' to something vaguely resembling plans of epic doom to end some unlucky soul which may, or may not have a rather feline name and was currently residing in a hospital in the middle of nowhere.

Which is why he decided to unceremoniously pop out of fuckshit nowhere and fix his dark black orbs of utter demise upon poor little Lynx as she wondered what the heck she did to deserve this.

Or maybe, because he's the (self-proclaimed!) strongest hitman in the world, Reborn went through the completely pointless and unnecessary pain of researching up her history, and now, has consequently come to kill her in color ways.

"Lynx."

No signature 'ciaosuu' ? Well. Shit's going down.

"...Reborn." she paused. "Are you here to kill me?"

Because really, this would have happened sooner or later, and just why the fuck did it have to be now, in a hospital, in the middle of nowhere, in a hideous white room, when Lynx was incapable of escape and low on blood and sporting all sorts of unfair disadvantages?

Reborn flashed a smirk before shaking his head to indicate no, he was not here to blow her brains out, and thus, Lynx should stop planning desperate, hazardous means of escape which involve windows, fire-extinguishers, and maybe a few detached body parts.

How nice.

Then he got serious again.

"I don't know how you erased your history, but for now, that's none of my concern. Look at this."

And he slid a paper and a pocket watch before her as Lynx raised an eyebrow.

It was Namimori's Top Fighters rankings. By Fuuta, no doubt. But what the hell was she doing on there? And in the upper ranks, no less! And...and...

She looked at Reborn sharply.

What the fuck. "They're after Tsuna." Like she so totally suspected because who the heck else was there to target? Namimori was a relatively small town. There's no reason for assassins to randomly hang out.

Never. Never _ever_.

Shiiiiiitttt...

This was bad.

Inner panic aside, Lynx kept the blankest look she can manage in effort to not give away her thoughts. They can be pushed aside for now. The course of action was more important, she needed to do something and Reborn obviously wanted her to do so as well.

"What does this have to do with me?" she said quietly, gazing down at the paper.

Lynx knew perfectly well what he wanted – and she didn't have a problem with it this time. The sooner these assassins are disposed of, the sooner she can start investigating, preparing, and finding out exactly how exposed her current location was.

If she was lucky, then they were only here for Tsuna, and as soon as they're gone, she can rest in peace.

Lynx mentally paused. Now that she thinks about it, Tsuna's presence here was essentially a very good thing, seeing as he overshadowed her…big time. Hm. She'll have to use that to her advantage.

Reborn looked at her intently.

"The ninth ordered Tsuna to fight. I want you to join him – I know a doctor who can restore you to fighting conditions. Our opponent is quite strong, and Tsuna needs his family."

She nodded.

"Don't call the doctor. Can you just get me my school bag?"

Reborn raised an eyebrow, but nodded, about to say something when suddenly –

"Lynx-san!"

The door burst open in a flurry of movement and Sawada Tsunayoshi made his grand appearance.

Lynx blinked, slowly.

"Tsuna." She says.

How did he know about this? Lynx glanced at Reborn, who looked slightly annoyed, yet smug, nonetheless. She understood instantly.

_Ah. So that's why._

Impressive how multi-functional his facial muscles can be (But then, he was the world's self-proclaimed number one hitman so what did you expect?)

"Lynx-san, are you alright?" Tsuna exclaimed, coming over to the edge of the bed.

"Yeah…"

He stood there, looking unsure what to do, and slightly panicky as he furrowed his brows and took in the level of Lynx's injuries. It really wasn't _that _bad, just looking slightly worse when there were so many unnecessary bandages (which Lynx had protested against, but hospital people, though they mean well, tend to get a little scary when it comes to things like this so in the end, she complied to their unreasonable commands).

"Dame-Tsuna, let's go, there's something we need to do." said Reborn, jumping away from Lynx and dragging a protesting Tsuna towards the door as Lynx watched despondently.

"Wha – ? Reborn! We just got here, why are you – ?"

Cue kick to the face.

"Ow!" And Tsuna was cut off as he held his face in pain. Reborn had reached the door.

"Ciao," He says. Lynx waved. The door closed, and she was alone again.

Lynx stared at empty space and let herself sink in the pillows again.

She sighed.

_This…is a problem._

* * *

_**With Tsunayoshi-kun**_

Reborn introduced Tsuna to the wonders of pocketwatches and creepy mafia rankings followed by an explanation on the enemy's purpose and that he was the target.

The speech was followed by much 'Hiiiee'-ing and Tsuna-like reactions before the soon-to-be mafia boss got a move on and ran off to warn Gokudera.

Sadly, Gokudera happened to run out of batteries, and thus communication was cut off, and then, because the universe had some kind of serious, life-long grudge against a certain Sawada Tsunayoshi, the boy was captured, then delayed, and then arrived just in time to interfere with a winning battle.

However, because aforementioned universe was in a _really_ bad mood and decided to take it out on Tsuna, Gokudera then lost the previously winning battle in an effort to save his precious boss, but then karma, who was the universe's wife, decided that the universe was being too harsh, and sent Yamamoto Takeshi to save the day.

And that is why Gokudera was hospitalized in Nami-Chu with various company and a perverted doctor.

The end.

* * *

_**Returning to the middle of a room in the middle of a hospital in the middle of nowhere**_

Lynx was scowling fiercely and stripping herself of the utterly _stupid _bandages which were apparently trying to strangle her or something, because she was hopelessly tangled among the long, white material that was most definitely mocking her with their evil, malicious laughter as she fought to be free.

_Gack. How do doctors DO this stuff?_

More scowling.

Lynx really wished she had a chainsaw or something, just for the sole purpose of cutting up these long white strips of utter _evil _as she went through the task of painstakingly untangling herself from said strips of evil.

See, normally, Lynx wouldn't have much trouble since she's used to patching herself up and all, but this time, some idiot decided to use just _one _long bandage to tie her up from ankle to thigh, and while fortunately, she only hurt one of her legs, she had crash landed on her arms so _those _bandages got mixed up with the one long strip and now…

_Uuuuugggggh…._

She sat on the bed, slowly unraveling the bandages from both her leg, and other bandages, as she began plotting the best way to deal with this huge, very much life-threatening assassin problem.

The obvious thing to do would be to eliminate them – AKA, blow their brains out.

But then…She distinctly recalled telling Hibari that they were at Kokuyo Land (because they _are –_ that pineapple person from a while ago definitely had the whole I-KILLLL-YOOOUU aura going on. Totally assassin material) and he has yet to return. Which meant that these people were crazy strong.

Lynx mentally frowned.

Speaking of Hibari. Was he the one who brought her to the hospital? Because now that she's not distracted, Lynx noticed that her ribs were still intact and for that matter, she only retained the wounds from her battle with Kakimoto Chikusa.

Had…had Hibari been…_nice? _He _hadn't _condemned her to the pits of fiery tonfa hell?

…

…

…

Lynx shuddered amid her battle against utter evil.

_No. Absolutely not. _

That was possibly the most horrible thought she has ever had.

Hibari was the force of evil that kept Lynx from exploding in a plume of ashes due to holy light exposure. He was the great source of utter _doom _that made this town so appealing. It was his evil, malicious aura which haunted the very essence of Namimori that kept the dark creatures such as herself from wilting away in the light.

So Hibari being _nice? _Blasphemy!

Lynx was sure it was something else.

Maybe because…uh…She gave him information and he didn't feel like cleaning her blood off Namimori?

Yes. That must be it. Lynx had been oozing lots of blood and had he left her there, a large, immovable bloodstain would have definitely followed.

What a clever person, sparing himself the trouble by knocking her out and shipping her away.

Issue solved.

Lynx swept herself off the bed, finally freed of the accursed bandages which seemed to be radiating a creepy aura so heavy that she could almost _hear _the ominous, _Cooomee to meee…I shall forever haunt you…fwuuuuaahaha…_ and yes, that was extraordinarily freaky no matter how you look at it.

Giving the bandages an evil eye, Lynx made way to her school bag which the nurses had brought her, probably on account of Reborn (who actually listened to her for change).

Lynx dug about until her hands emerged with a small first aid kit. It sparkled innocently in the randomly appearing beam of sunlight, because the first aid kit was happy.

It had been such a long time since its owner made an adorable, blood-covered appearance and the first aid kit had named itself Pokie in her absence.

Pokie had a long, tragic background story - it had been with Lynx since she was a scrawny, diminutive little kid, and was very attached to her, from the moment they met, in the middle of some obscure country or another, where it fell in love at first bloody, torn up sight.

Pokie had been very lonely, sitting emptily in the back of a dark closet where no one could find it.

And then there was Lynx! And then they had many adventures together as Pokie did its honorable duty of healing her wounds and keeping her precious blood from spilling all over the place! And –

Pokie stopped its reminiscing as Lynx stared at it oddly, getting the strangest vibes of weirdly affectionate bloodlust.

THE POINT of this story is that Lynx has been getting hurt for years and years and thus, she developed pain resilience of epic proportions. Among other things.

That was why, despite being not long ago nailed by a worrying amount of poisonous needles, she was able to stand. That was why, despite having metal, and chairs, and large, heavy textbooks thrown at her, she remains unharmed. That was why, despite numerous attempts to kill her via steroid turtle or bazooka or dynamite or tunafish or bombs of all sorts, Lynx had survived _everything._ For years.

And all THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is why Lynx can be fully capable of functioning despite her numerous, not-exactly-life-threatening injuries.

After re-bandaging herself up with ointment added Lynx dug around her backpack some more, whipping out her back-up school uniform (It's her school bag, remember?).

It was so that she can wear something other than the hospital pajama things (which you just absolutely CANNOT fight in) until she reaches the confines of her apartment, where more suitable clothing can be found.

That done and over with…

Lynx peered out the window. It was only about three stories, maybe less, so of course, her means of exit would involve the curtains, a rope, and a spectacular flying leap, as she made her way out the hospital and towards home base to get some supplies.

She had a good idea what they were dealing with.

* * *

_**With Tsuna and co.**_

"Take me with you, Jyuudaime!"

"Gokudera-kun!"

"I'll bring their lives to an end!"

Tsuna stared, wide-eyed as Reborn just took it all in stride as he calmly watched from his perch on the wall.

"I'll go too, Tsuna!" Yamamoto cheerfully proclaimed. Apparently someone had duped him into thinking that they're playing some kind of game…but perhaps he knew that. He was just playing around, maybe?

"I'm coming too. I'm worried about Hayato."

"Bianchi!"

"Aneki!...Urg…"

Reborn smiled before saying that they have all the people needed to attack Mukuro and rescue his captive – Fuuta. Now, they were just missing that one person…He'll have to have a little 'talk' with her and introduce her to Shamal if necessary.

* * *

_**Later**_

Lynx stood in her apartment, just finishing buckling her belt. She eyed her drawer warily before opening it and taking out the object.

A pair of long, thin switchblades. A gifts from the past.

She flicked one open, the foot long silver flashing out, as she put it through a test drive. The familiar moves. The feel of the grip. It was all so…nostalgic. In a bad way. Like, _really_, really bad. Lynx couldn't help but feel like she was slowly, but surely being sucked into her past world.

Then she turned to the window.

"Ciaosuu."

Reborn dropped out of somewhere completely random and would have scared her half to death if Lynx hadn't been expecting it.

"Tsuna and the others are going to Kokuyo Land soon."

"I'll wait for them there."

"See you."

Lynx waved and exited the apartment.

* * *

_**At Kokuyo Land**_

Lynx was already past the creepy gate (which she climbed over) and was sitting absentmindedly on a…_something _when the familiar voice of Tsuna and Bianchi floated past. Reborn waved and Lynx took that as a cue to show herself.

"Yo."

She popped up next to Tsuna, successfully scaring the living shit out of him and also accidentally causing Gokudera to whip out his dynamite in alarm.

"Who is it!" He snarled, dynamite ready to go.

Lynx held up both hands and stared at him blankly before Yamamoto 'ahahaha'd and calmed Gokudera down, as Tsuna gaped, then stared at Lynx while she waved at Bianchi and Reborn who were all cool and Mafioso and taking everything into stride with an air of 'We are awesomely cool.'

"Good to see you, Lynx." said Bianchi. She looked stylish, even with the goggles.

Lynx nodded to Bianchi in agreement. Then tilted her head to the side as Tsuna recovered from his heart attack and showered her with questions concerning her health, why she was here, did Reborn make you do this, you don't have to do this, yada, yada, yada…

Lynx answered to the best of her ability before she heard a rustle. A significantly evil, utter doom announcing rustle.

Her head snapped up.

Reborn became serious.

"Something's coming," he said, just as Yamamoto finished examining a suspicious footprint of some werewolf or another (because Lynx was _sure_ she saw one here on her last visit).

And seconds later, something wild and feral looking burst out of the ground like a deranged mole that needs to be whacked, taking most of everyone by surprise (because Bianchi is a hitwoman, Reborn is…Reborn, and Lynx was something in between) then knocking over Yamamoto, who fell through the ground, and into a pitfall.

Lynx and Tsuna and the whole group rushed to the edge.

And she watched, as Yamamoto battled.

And she watched, as Tsuna met with utter demise.

And she watched, as the baseball nut emerged victorious.

Then, afterwards, because Reborn was refusing to reach into his interdimensional pocket of physics defying mystery, Lynx was the one who patched up Yamamoto's arm once they reached a slightly less whack-a-mole-ish area, where there was actually a table and signs of human life.

**~27272727~**

Lunch is a wonderful thing.

It keeps you alive. It fulfills the demands of your stomach. It…has now apparently turned into some kind of severely abnormal battle of literally mind-blowing musical instruments and deadly flesh-melting poison cooking wherein Lynx's desperately needed sushi was knocked to the ground and mercilessly squashed.

That was a bit sad.

But moving on…

"Posion Cooking! Large Scale Buffet!"

"Burning Vibrato!"

"Hiiieee!"

After various scenes of action and panic while Lynx follows Reborn's example of sleeping with her eyes open….

"She touched it." Gokudera muttered.

"Eh?"

The ultimate winner was Bianchi, who was apparently fighting for the sake of Reborn's naptime, which also doubled to mean Lynx's naptime and for that, Lynx was very grateful because sleep is important for the growth of a teenage girl, and she wanted to be tall. Not diminutive in the least.

However, the victory was short-lived, as an odd, perverted, highly disgusting laugh floated over, and the group turned to see…

A highly diminutive old man. Lynx was not impressed. Not in the least (If he was _tall _she might have had at least a little bit of respect-ish scared-ish feelings, but no, this old man didn't even put her on guard. He was a head shorter than her!)

Lynx suddenly felt something and whipped her head in the direction of the forest.

Reborn noticed immediately and nodded at her alert eyes.

Quietly, Lynx split away from the group, entering the forest, only to find that she was…lost in mist?

"Kufufufufu…."

* * *

**Thank you, reviewers. Sorry for the long wait - I was touring Canada!**

**Here's a special for compensation?**

* * *

**_Special: The Horror of Melon Juice_**

Once upon a time, years ago, a scrawny, highly diminutive brat by the name of Lynx had moved to the cheerful town of Namimori.

A small apartment was secured through a combination of false paperwork, an evil genius, and a rather large amount of blood spilled onto said paperwork via accidental cut inflected upon a bleeder.

The apartment was safely secured. (With lots and lots of bonuses)

Now, some other town far, far away had lost their resident creature of dark and evil and creepy wallflower-y power, and Namimori has gained one too many anti-social psychopaths.

Or something.

And today, Lynx was walking down a street, absentmindedly sipping a can of melon juice with another in her hand, because whoever the hell created vending machines really ought to find a way to prevent them from giving extras just because.

Not that Lynx is complaining.

And on this day, this clear, sunny, horribly tragic day, is the _true _moment in which she met Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Sawada Tsunayoshi, at this time, was also a scrawny, diminutive, highly adorable little brat (unlike Lynx who was STILL creepy as heck) who happened to run into her, and upon their first meeting, Lynx was given the impression of a huge, fluffy, absolutely helpless blob of human who just randomly decided to attack her.

Her first thought: What new style of alfro is that?

Then, a slightly more normal thought: What's with the face?

Sawada Tsunayoshi was in an emo angst-y mood, because for the umpteenth time, he has lost pretty much everything to the bullies. Again. And because he was so pitifully depressed, Lynx wordlessly handed him the other can of melon juice, wondering just what on earth was wrong with him.

Then she just ditched him, like the totally admirable sister figure she was not.

But because Lynx was in a hurry, she turned, walked, and crashed into a pole, coming just _this _close to giving herself a concussion, before she recovered and moved on with life, now equipped with rather fuzzy memory of this whole incident.

Elsewhere, Sawada Tsunayoshi was discovering the wonders of melon juice and had dubbed it his favorite drink, for more than one reason.

Then, because he is Sawada Tsunayoshi and Sawada Tsunayoshi is a hopelessly klutzy idiot in need of five years of Reborn-Therapy, he tripped on a rock, also hit his head, and totally forgot about everything except that melon juice was nice, and that he ran into someone random _again._

Hopefully, he had apologized...

That was the day of unspeakable doom.

Because, ultimately, on the day that Tsuna crash-landed onto Lynx, she had been returning from the shopping district and _just _finished a can of melon juice before she strolled past Hibari, went down a street, and was assaulted by flying tuna.

Tsuna also coincidentally had a can of the stuff in his room before Reborn blew him out the window.

So in the end, everything can be blamed on the melon juice.

* * *

**Yes, melon juice is really Tsuna's favorite drink. But that was on Wiki. So don't kill me if I'm wrong.**

**Reviews are much loved and appreciated.**


	6. When Shit Happens

For the record, Lynx wasn't particularly well adapted to being stranded in the middle of some freakishly large amount of mist while in the vicinity of a murderous pineapple convict as her sort-of friends fight for their lives against said pineapple convict.

Not at all.

Because Lynx was not that strong.

Sure, she can hold her own against steroid hyped human blobs, and turtles, and random flying tonfas, and all sorts of malicious things, but then, there's the true blue assassins, and lunatics, and crazy strong people who just want to suck your blood or something.

Which meant that while Lynx may be notably stronger than her associates, she wasn't quite out of the woods, either.

So given the circumstances (AKA, being in the middle of enemy territory with unknown amounts of aforementioned assassins and lunatics and psychopaths) now was not a good time to be blinded by mist.

Lynx frowned.

She was certain this was an illusion. And illusions are only within the mind. So her surroundings haven't actually changed. Therefore, she's still in the middle of a forest filled with hard, pain-inducing trees.

She paused. _Well that simplifies things._

The easiest way to snap out of an illusion: Bang your head on whatever hard surface available.

In this case, a tree.

With this conclusion, Lynx just walked and walked and let her hand stick out besides her until she found said tree, and then, _Wham! _A friendly introduction is made. Lynx marveled at the sudden, delightful view.

_Stars. How pretty._

Seconds later, the mist cleared, and Lynx was at the edge of the forest, much closer to the building than she recalled, and slightly red in the forehead due to warranted and highly reasonable introductions to a tree.

Then she heard it. Again.

"Kufufufu~"

Someone was next to her. Someone evil, and conniving, and very much like Lynx, only with a pineapple hairstyle and stalker tendencies. She turned. And deadpanned.

How is it, that did she winds up encountering baseball assassins, and exploding octopuses, and hybrid cows, and sadistic babies, and crazy psychotic chefs, and now a fucking psychic serial killer being hunted down by the freaking MAFIA among various other things?

Lynx edged away from the guy, step…by step…by step…

"We meet again." He says, smiling disconcertingly.

She leveled a flat, unmoving glare in his direction, stopping her retreat.

"…Rokudo, Mukuro."

The escaped convict with weird psychic powers claimed to come from the six hells and beyond. Highly sadistic, probably most creepy, and often the nightmare of any sane manly Mafioso who didn't like the company of tridents and tentacles and numerous other things that induce permanent mindfuck.

Said convict's smile stretched further, and morphed into a cocky smirk.

Lynx kept the professional blank face as he chuckled in that creepy tone before speaking.

"Oya, oya. You know of me? I'm quite sure it's Lancia's picture that was shown."

Lancia. Powerful hitman in Northen Italy. He's here too? Then Tsuna and the others…

Lynx flicked open her blade, twirled it around menacingly, and attacked him, fully intent on causing harm, and was in the process of stabbing his eye out when the symbols shifted to four, and suddenly, Mukuro was grasping her wrist in an iron hold, even as Lynx spun and threw a flying kick.

Which missed. But it made him let go of her, though.

"You don't have to be so wary." He drawled, stepping back to just a few feet before her. "I have no business with you in particular. Sawada Tsunayoshi is my only target, after all."

He seemed sincere, as he made no move to harm her. And she _was _the one to attack first. It was just that…An escaped psycho serial killer tends to trigger some kind of mental reflex that screamed 'Enemy' at first sight.

But…

Lynx stared at him, analyzing, calculating, considering every factor, any risks, and what could possibly happen before guardedly withdrawing her blade into the folds of her clothes. It was the wisest choice.

"…I see…"

He was strong, much too strong, and she didn't exactly miss how he had also evaluated her skills, and deemed that fighting her when it was unnecessary would be something of a pain. Because, whatever hocus-pocus hell skills he has, Lynx was no pushover, even by mafia standards.

Then she stared up at him with a neutral expression. (Damn height. How is he a nearly a head taller than her? Yamamoto was bad enough!)

If he was only here for Tsuna, then he had absolutely no business with her, despite the fact that he oh-so-coincidentally came to this town, then…Dragging her ass out in the middle of fuckshit nowhere to fight with Sawada Tsunayoshi in hopes of preserving the remains of her lifespan was completely unnecessary?

Well, damn.

"So you'll let me go, then?"

Because really, if he wasn't here to kill her, wasn't even part of the underworld seeing as the underworld wants him DEAD, then Lynx had nothing to fear.

Mukuro chuckled eerily, before smiling some more.

"Well, you're not exactly capable of getting in my way anymore, hm?"

_What?_

And the cocky bastard with the fruity hairstyle 'Kufufufu'ed some more, even as he faded into mist and Lynx was suddenly struck with the intense wisdom that she was not in a forest, nor in the mist, nor some place even remotely outdoors.

No.

Instead, she was_ chained to a fucking wall._

* * *

Lynx stared at the thing on her wrist as though it were some morbidly offensive creature.

_Just how did he – ?_

Her brain put two and two together.

If she was in an illusion in the first place, nothing was stopping the illusionist from making trees made of illusions thus giving her the illusion that the illusion was broken when really she was still very much stuck in said illusion.

Dammit. She's really starting to hate illusions.

Then, aforementioned hated illusion hid the chain, and the handcuff-y part was just conveniently made to catch her smoothly, and without notice when Mukuro clasped her wrist. _Damn, _that was an ingenious plan, scaring her to death and making her attack him, hence falling right into a trap, even as he pretended not to be an enemy.

How was she so _stupid?_

Lynx internally slammed her head on a wall, before trying to make sense of where in the dark, scary pits of Mukuro Land she was.

Then, she nearly did a double take as Hibari Kyoya's unconscious form greeted her from the darkness, and she realized that despite being duped, she was pretty lucky to get away with no injuries.

Lynx tugged on her chains, and knelt down near his fallen form.

A yellow bird chirped, and Lynx dismissed it, in favor of surveying Hibari.

There was blood everywhere, and she could tell that it was _bad, _really, really bad, because there were so many broken bones, so many bruises, and probably damaged internal organs, and…she knew he must feel absolutely miserable.

Knowing Mukuro, he probably used some kind of underhanded trick to render the fight into a one-sided beat down, and Lynx felt just a bit sad.

Because despite everything she says, Lynx was still compassionate, in a way. She wouldn't just stand by as someone gets brutally manhandled, for example, and watching someone who helped her once before when _she _was the one bleeding on the ground suffer horribly just didn't sit well with her.

At all.

And being duped by the same person who beat up said guy bleeding on the ground definitely swayed her decision.

So Lynx decided to help him.

But bandages wouldn't do much for internal organs and broken bones, and so many needed materials were missing that even if Lynx was armed with the knowledge necessary to treat the wounds, she couldn't administer them properly, not without screwing up horribly or something.

She thought and thought, desperately trying to find something, anything in her vast mental library, but the only thing that kept coming back to haunt her was her…specialty.

It was a last resort thing, something reserved only for when it's necessary, and Lynx hated using it because that specialty was the cause of the pain, the hideous memories, and it'll literally tear her apart and just _hurt her,_ but…

Mukuro was after Tsuna. A psycho serial killer with psychic power was after Tsuna.

Tsuna would die, there's no way he can win against Mukuro, even with Gokudera and Yamamoto and Bianchi at his side, because Reborn can't interfere, and Lynx wasn't strong enough to _defeat _Mukuro yet. Fight on par, last long, maybe, but not defeat.

However, with Hibari, they had a chance, and Lynx could grant them that chance, could make it just that much more likely for them to come back alive at the cost of shitty sacrificial aftermaths…

But why would she care in the first place?

Then a flash of memories, and Lynx suddenly saw, in _their_ place, was Tsuna instead, lying on the ground bleeding, just like them, so similar, so innocent, yet burdened with so much pressure and then abruptly, Lynx made her decision.

It was simple, really.

No fucking _way_ was she letting the same thing happen all over again just because of some stupid trauma on her behalf, and frankly, she's had worse, so just what was the problem, anyway?

So Lynx shifted Hibari into a flat position, lying him down as though he were on a hospital bed, and even though what she'll do would probably put her out of fighting commission, an in-action Hibari, even with wounds, would make up for it, and Tsuna and the others would have a much better chance.

It'll put her mind at peace. (Because, aside from all the above, Lynx was really just afraid of this coming back to haunt her along the road of life or something.)

Lynx placed her hands on his torso, the chain attached to the ground and her wrist just long enough.

Breath in. Breath out. Her hands glowed, mildly. She closed her eyes.

Then she felt that familiar pulling sensation, and her energy started leaving her rapidly, targeting the internal injuries first, and she flinched and nearly tore her arms away at the sudden pain that erupted in her body, as she fought hard to stay, and not run away from the pain.

Lynx winced and noiselessly gasped as the agony increased and her eyes snapped open, watching with a sort of grim satisfaction as Hibari started to regain color, little, by little, as her own pain intensified.

_Suck it up and live with it, _she told herself, because she knew perfectly well what she signed up for, and afterwards, she'll have a legitimate excuse to contemplate the shitty nature of life.

Agonizing minutes later, Hibari's eyes slowly opened. And that was when Lynx knew her job was done.

She jerked her hands away as Hibari sat up and stared at her with an odd look, which she nearly missed due to being preoccupied by aforementioned shitty sacrificial aftermath.

Lynx suddenly found herself choking, a thick, metallic-tasting substance rising up her throat, coughing, coughing, numb with pain radiating through her chest, and _fuck, _did she hate the world right now.

"Herbivore."

Lynx turned to look at Hibari.

Ah. He was still looking as beat up as ever, but at least the internal wounds/bleeding was gone, now. He could move, apparently, but probably couldn't break the wall down or something (because no matter _how _insanely strong you are, you can't break half a foot of solid concrete while nursing broken bones and fractures and cuts and bruises and all sorts of nasty stuff).

"…Hey." She says, just to let Hibari know that she's still alive, even though she wasn't moving at all, and it wouldn't do for him to accidentally mistake her for dead, now would it?

She'd rather not be buried alive, thank you very much.

Lynx mentally twitched as she felt the full blown stare of a not-quite-recovered-but-almost-there Hibari, which was creepier than his usual death glare, because at least _then, _she knew he wanted to kill her and now, she had no idea _what _he was thinking.

Hibari made a movement to get up, but Lynx had a surge of panic and quickly grabbed his leg.

The guy was still heavily injured! She only took away any internal damage so that he can move around without puncturing a lung or something! He needs to stay still for at _least _a while longer!

"…Wait. You'll need more time to recover." She says quietly, monotone.

Lynx wasn't sure if he would listen, but evidently, Hibari realized that even if he was mobile now, he doesn't exactly have the strength to break down the wall, and he could seriously use some rest. Like, _seriously, _seriously.

Then there was silence.

* * *

It wasn't a particularly awkward or comfortable silence, but just silence of two people who don't have anything to say to each other, as Hibari set himself down a few yards away, and most probably started contemplating the shitty natures of life along with her.

Lynx mentally sighed.

Well, now she was stranded in the middle of nowhere in a dank, dark prison, with a now-conscious murderous perfect for company, and various sorts of internal bleeding, and blood still dripping down her shirt, and maybe her skin was bruising, and just when, exactly, did her leg wounds reopen?

The temptation to slam her head on something was growing by the second.

Lynx didn't have a clear idea why, but it was probably the smarter, wiser part of her mind that demanded some kind of retribution for her idiotic actions, for she was now seeing fuzzy, and had officially crossed all lines in terms of acceptable bloodloss.

_It's for a good cause, _she deadpanned to herself, in some sorry attempt to kill off the head-smacking urge.

The return of a sudden bout of blood coughing did not help her case.

Lynx had the briefest feeling of someone's eyes on her, but shrugged it off in favor of distracting herself.

With random thoughts.

So.

Speaking of Tsuna. (Though he was nowhere mentioned before this statement…)

Just where the hell _was _the stupid little douche? If she finds out that after reviving their only hope, Tsuna managed to get himself all sorts of fucked up while her back was turned, Lynx would truly, genuinely kill something because…Really?

Did the universe hate her _that _much?

She'd understand if this load of unbelievably insane traumatic torture was occurring _after _she committed some unforgivable felony, but in all her memory, she can't recall anything particularly disastrous or mind blowing that occurred due to an evil, cat-eyed girl with wallflower tendencies such as herself.

So it was just karma bitching about this with fate, then. She should've known that getting on the bad side of _both_ would land her in one hell of a mess someday.

More bloody coughing.

Lynx would have twitched a little, if she was willing to spare the effort, but just stuck with glaring at the wall, as more blood spattered all over, and she felt the full sacrificial aftermath that comes with taking someone else's wounds.

Did anyone notice that Lynx wasn't particularly descriptive about how she felt after the whole ordeal?

Well.

No, it's not painful at _all, _for starters, and of course Lynx wasn't starting to regret this decision and sort of have an urge to go back in time and whack herself upside the head for being overly influenced by some shitty history, and sure, she just possibly saved Hibari's life (Because she's pretty sure he would've died had he been left here a few more days), but then, it was for the sake of some pitifully innocent and naïve soul by the name of Sawada-freaking-Tsunayoshi.

The bane of her existence. Sort of. It's a complicated relationship, dammit.

Lynx was almost certain that the only reason she's did what she did was due to her incredibly persistent conscience that refused to die in a hole, and if anyone else had her particular history, they would likely have done the same.

Watching it happen once was bad enough. Twice? Hell no.

_Yeah, _Lynx thought, convincing herself that she did not just do an act of utter GOOD. _It was just a shitload of traumatic history that made this happen._

Because that's all it was. Totally.

Not like she actually _cares _for Tsuna or anything…No…of course not…

* * *

_**With Tsuna**_

Shit happened.

Tsuna returned form a stroll through the woods.

Yamamoto passed out.

Gokudera was…Eh…Suffering the consequences of mosquito overdose.

Then there were conspicuous amounts of stripping and screaming and bright flame beacons that occurred, along with an epic battle that ended with Tsuna's victory as Mukuro watched/listened from his creepy lair, and sent Chikusa down to wrap things up.

Then they stormed Mukuro's house of doom, all epic and heroic-looking with the formations, breezes, and long legged mafia sashaying.

Only Reborn, smart little hitman he was, looked back in the woods, and recalled a certain missing wallflower's disappearance.

Which had gone completely unnoticed.

But you can't really blame everyone else, since they were preoccupied trying to stay alive, and come up with plans to eradicate Mukuro off the face of the earth – and, well, Lynx was called a wallflower for a _reason._

_**With Lynx**_

Hibari heals freakishly fast.

Admittedly, Lynx accounted for about 70% of the speedy recovery, but then, no normal person can break freaking chains with their bare hands when not-so-long ago they were lying on the floor, dying of various types of injury (But hey, at least she's free, now).

It did wonders for her self-esteem. Not that she had much, but…

Cough.

Anyway.

Judging from the almost-dry blood, she had fallen asleep/passed out for a few hours, in which she'd gone completely numb and stiff and oh look! She can move now!

Lynx distinctly recalled hearing soft humming, and dreams involving yellow balls of utter fluffiness that was so fluffy that you just _had _to give them attention, and, for some reason, a tune that vaguely sounded like the Namimori school anthem.

But that was all a dream, right?

There was a sudden sense of doom, and familiar voices were heard just beyond the wall.

The fluffy yellow bird began chirping the school song.

She thought that Hibari smirked a little, but that might've been the bloodloss talking, among other things. Then she stared indifferently as the wall promptly blew up in smithereens, and a beat up Gokudera looked up at them, exchanging words with Hibari, who had gotten up and starting extorting sweet revenge on the two green-clad idiots behind the dynamite guy.

Lynx gave a long suffering sigh. In her head.

Then, she hauled herself up carefully, unwilling to have a rebound of lung hacking sessions, and made her way to Gokudera (who looked absolutely wonderful, by the way. And fuck no, he was not dead enough to warrant her to use epic healing skills again).

"…Hey."

Gokudera's eyes widened.

"Heh. So that's where you were." He says, trying and failing to get back up. Then he muttered to himself, "For Jyuudaime's right-hand man to be like this…how pathetic…"

"Hn." Hibari suddenly reappeared, and the scenery was mysteriously missing two green clad idiots.

Lynx nodded wearily in his direction as she leaned on a wall.

"Nice work." In response, he made a move to pick her up and sling her over his shoulder, but then, when comparing the rate of harm, Gokudera was in better shape than her ("Oi! Are you just gonna leave me here?" He had yelled as he watched the scene unfold).

Therefore.

She shook her head and gestured at Gokudera instead, saying something like "I'll be fine" and pointedly ignoring the mildly unconvinced looks at the blood all over her and reopened wounds.

A fierce staring fest later, (Did Lynx win? Maybe? Since he gave in to her request?) Hibari picked up Gokudera and dragged him off, muttering something about 'debt' and 'half-paid' and other miscellaneous things which would have made Lynx very confuzzled had she heard clearly.

Then she dully noted that there were about a dozen sets of stairs between her, and Mukuro, and probably a dying Tsuna, and she was still nursing bad internal organs, and yes, she can move, but holy _shit _it hurt like hell, and really, if Mukuro wanted people to _not _find him, he should tone down the evil aura a bit.

Actually, scratch that – a LOT. Because Lynx was half-dead and she can still feel it three floors under, and that was a shining beacon that revealed his exact location…not that it wasn't totally beneficial to her, of course.

But that still didn't change aforementioned dozens of stairs and halls and odd turns and _damn, _was she not looking forward to this.

_Urg. I hate life._

Then she began the long, _long _trek through the halls, and stairs, and random twists and turns of the Mukuro-Land-O-Doom.

* * *

**Eh...Just gonna let you know that the tone of this story goes with the plot, so when it's serious-y and focusing on battles, the mood of my story changes accordingly. But I'll still try and make it humorous.**

**Reviews would be awesome!**


	7. On Summer Vacation

_**With Tsuna**_

_"__Heh." Gokudera smirked triumphantly. "The glasses guy and the animal are both taking naps downstairs." _

_"__I see." Mukuro murmured, clasping his hands together, striking another typically evil-looking pose._

_"__Way to go, Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna said happily. Gokudera laughed scratched his cheek with an abashed aura.__ "__Well, I'm not the one that beat them…" He muttered dejectedly, inwardly nursing a strong desire to strangle a certain perfect because he took all the good parts._

"_Oh!" He suddenly remembered something. "That Kuromine girl is downstairs! I think she's heading over, too…"_

"_Really? Thank goodness." And yes. Tsuna had noticed her absence eventually and had freaked out like the concerned little guy he was. Then he proceeded to worry. And worry. Like crazy. And now, that was one thing off his mind… _

_"__Have you prepared yourself?" Hibari asked, readying his tonfas._

_"__You're very scary," Mukuro stated politely, with manners unseemly for a criminal wanted by the underworld, the public, and probably the devil as well, "but please don't get between me and Vongola." He glared, still somehow politely._

"_And besides," he said while looking away, "you should barely be able to stand right now. I've broken many of your bones after all."_

"_Are those your last words?"_

_Tsuna looked horrified. But. Um. About that…_

_It was surprising that just because Hibari looked exactly the same as before, Mukuro couldn't tell that his bones were kinda… 'unbroken' since the last time they made an encounter. _

_Because if he REALLY still had broken bones, he can't just walk and fight through sheer will power seeing as the law of physics applies, EVEN IF YOU'RE HIBARI KYOYA. You just can't fight with your lungs stabbed through by ribs and a broken leg. Or arm. Cause they will snap in half mid-way and THEN where will you be?_

_But still. Illusionists can't see through the illusions of reality? How…ironic._

* * *

The long stroll through a creepy as hell building with animals and robots and unconscious androids was highly unpleasant.

Aside from the many-times mentioned shitty aftermaths (i.e. the internal bleeding, some broken ribs, broken bones here and there, bloodloss, dizzy, etc.) Lynx was feeling a growing urge to sleep.

Or pass out. Whichever works.

Because in the timespan of less than twelve hours, she has had a mini-battle with a pineapple convict, a one-sided conversation with a comatose perfect, a session of shitty past flashbacking for the sake of motivation, and, amongst all that, gotten all sorts of fucked up along the way.

And there was yet more to come.

Lynx glared half-heartedly at her latest opponent.

Mini poles. Strung up by bigger poles. Leading to more poles. Horizontal, scrawny poles. AKA, a metal ladder of evil poles. Known by Lynx's brain as, 'the thingamajig.'

Then, she turned despondently to her leg, which was not looking quite so pretty at the moment.

And sighed.

_I hate life. Seriously. I do. How many times have I said that today?_

And so she trekked on, ignoring an ominously fluttering curtain that highly resembled something out of a horror movie.

There were sounds of fighting, incredibly fast fighting, and Lynx could recognize the sounds of that weapon _anywhere._

She entered the doorway.

And stared with an expression of complete and utter deadpan as she watched Hibari fall unconscious after what appeared to have been an epic battle of supersonic speeds.

She scowled.

These people. They are damn _crazy. _She spills half her guts for the sake of healing his wounds and the moment she turns, he goes on a rabid fighting frenzy against psychotic mafia criminals?

Have ye no common sense?

(But then again, that's the sole reason she healed Hibari in the first place, so it's all relative and sensible and it was just her being a sardonic little beyotch?...Sounds about right.)

Lynx drew closer, and stood behind the short midget with the fluffy-ass brown hair sticking up like some new asian-style alfro.

"…Tsuna," she said.

He turned around and gasped, seemly horrified by her state.

"Lynx! What happened? What did Mukuro do to you?"

"…Nothing much." Lynx frowned. "…Though I need a bath."

Yes, because the massive bloodstains are very uncomfortable, and Lynx likes to maintain her personal hygiene, thank you very much.

"Thank goodness!" Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief. Those bloodstains seemed pretty scary…

Then he ran off to check on Hibari, while Lynx followed, and dully noted that despite Hibari's utter uncaringness of his body, at least her handiwork still held him together. Like a mummy.

He had probably passed out from the bloodloss and exhaustion, combined with the general shitty feeling of I-need-to-freaking-sleep which one received after a session of Lynx-Therapy. It was quite normal.

And speaking of shitty feelings.

That wall…That hard stone wall…was it coming closer? Or was that the floor?

Ehh…So dark…Oh, look, a star…

_Thud._

* * *

Lynx's eyelids fluttered for a second.

There was a glimpse of glowing red, and possessed peoples, and what looked like dynamite and poison cooking flying around with needles and lions and tigers and cheetahs, and just how do these things relate to each other anyway?

She had a sense of incoming doom.

It felt like someone was figuratively, or not so figuratively picking her brain, and, feeling a sinking despair, Lynx blearily realized her cheek was bleeding.

"Lynx! No, did she get possessed too?" Tsuna cried.

Possessed? As in, possession bullet, possessed? Mukuro had those? She faintly recalled a silver gun…Oh, look, there it is!

So yes. Possession bullet at work, and that explained why it felt like someone was trying very hard and failing very well at entering her mind, which was all sorts of messed up and traumatized, and doused with so many random things that it was no wonder Lynx was immune.

…

Did that mean Hibari was too? Since, it takes a few days for Lynx's powers to get out of his system…

She went unconscious. Again.

* * *

"Mukuro…If I don't defeat you, I can't die in peace!"

Was the proclamation Lynx woke up to.

She distinctly recalled green light, Reborn's narrating, various speeches of sorts, and now, before her, stood someone else entirely.

Flames blazed on his forehead, but it wasn't the mindless, violent, dying will she was used to. It was…calm. But powerful. Determined. Strong.

She watched as this new Tsuna duked it out with Mukuro, Reborn explaining all the while, as she lay against the wall, more or less incapable of movement, with Gokudera and Bianchi who had evidently been un-possessed and knocked out.

Viewing their battle, Lynx realized that…Tsuna can be one scary-ass bitch when he needed to. And when said scary-ass bitch was on your side, well, it makes you feel a whole lot more secure. It was comforting.

That said, Mukuro was defeated.

She was empathic. Just a little. Since, they kinda shared similar shitty-as-hell history and stuff?

Then she felt them.

That ominous presence that radiated fear and power and utter mystery and creeped the hell out of her no matter how many times she met them.

The Vindice.

It felt as though one of them stared straight at her (…shit, did she do something?), then the chains whipped around Mukuro and his two cronies. Tsuna yelled out, but it was pointless.

The Vindice, in all their ghostly, mummified glory, are Da Boss. And nobody talks back to Da Boss, so naturally, Reborn shared that piece of invaluable information with him, and the Vindice left in peace.

Then Tsuna worried over his friends, celebrated as the medical team arrived, and passed out like a little girl once shitty aftermaths of his own kicked in (Ha. It happens to everyone!) and Reborn said something about needing to tutor him up some more.

And proceeded to fall asleep on him.

Lynx thought, as her eyelids once again drifted downwards, that…

_Oh yeah. Life's a bitch._

* * *

_**Several Weeks Later**_

Lynx was apparently in Tsuna's class again, no thanks to some retarded-looking bandit baby which was totally not Reborn/Boreen/Who-The-Hell-Are-You-Really, and she was…not happy.

But then, Lynx was never really happy in the first place, so her being not happy is kinda the same as being happy so in the end, there's really not a difference?

…

Let's just say she's happy. Deep, deep down. _Really _deep (literally, since her happiness is totally not showing on her face and stuff).

ANYWAY.

"A cruise." She said blankly, staring at Reborn in front of her.

"Yes. Is there a problem? Anything I need to…take care of?" He says, dark eyes gleaming evilly.

Lynx paused.

And looked at him, with eyes that have seen the horrors of the world. The horror of hitmen babies. The horror of those who fall victim to unspeakable things of doom.

And said:

"…I'll go. I'll go _willingly, _okay?"

Reborn flashed a happy smirk.

"See you."

And that is why, despite her vast anti-social tendencies, Lynx was on a cruise heading to some desolate island in the middle of nowhere thereby dubbed 'Mafia Land' with much company.

That is why, she was muffled beneath a pillow, shielding away from mankind, as Yamamoto Takeshi prowled the halls, radiating death and despair with his smile of doom.

That is why –

_Sawada Tsunayoshi. You must die. DIE._

Yeah. She hated the world.

And thus, Lynx mentally groaned and buried her head deeper in her pillow as the sound of dynamites, and screams, and Gyahahaha's riddled the hall.

* * *

Lynx blinked owlishly.

"How did that happen?" she said, looking at a screaming blob of brown which swirled round and round in the whirlpool.

"Tsuna's working hard." Reborn says cheerfully, watching from next to her.

"…Huh."

A large rifle was thrust in her face. Lynx was mildly offended.

"Who are you, kora?" demanded a yellow-haired baby, looking like some second coming of Hitler, what with the Spartan tendencies and Reborn-style training. He was an Arcobaleno too, apparently. Why were all of them so crazy?

Reborn took his cue for introductions.

"This is Lynx. She's part of Tsuna's family."

Lynx waved in greeting. Collonello stuck out a hand.

"I'm Colonello, kora."

And the three cheerfully conversed, completely forgetting that a certain someone was busy drowning in the depths of a whirlpool below, screaming for help, and being utterly ignored, as the sadistic three were united together in their…sadistic-ness.

This actually wasn't so bad.

* * *

"Good job," Lynx says, crouching in front of Tsuna as he recovered from whirlpool syndrome.

"Hah…hah…I thought I was gonna die…" He panted. Then he paused. And realized.

Tsuna jerked his head up.

"Wait, when did you get here!?" He exclaimed, staring at her incredulously.

Lynx shrugged and stood, brushing herself off, before walking away slowly, despondently, kinda like a turtle, with an absentminded, "Watch out below…" as Reborn declared they weren't finished and suddenly, it was raining rocks.

She felt like whistling for some reason.

These trees were so comfortable…And the view was nice. Really nice.

Lynx sat back, and enjoyed the show.

* * *

"Of course, as long as I'm around, they won't have it their way, but…it's time for my nap."

"Hey!"

"Ignore Colonello. I'm worried for Mama and the others. We should head back through the subway…" Snot bubble appears.

"YOU TOO?"

Elsewhere nearby.

"…" ZzzzzZzzzZzzz…

Yeah. Lynx too, Tsuna. You have such lazy allies.

_**A long nap later**_

"Colonello, you take the shore."

"Don't order me around, kora!"

Upon Colonello's departure, it left Lynx and Reborn by their lonesome selves, with a couple hundred enemy Mafioso who wished to end them. There was absolutely no problem at all. The day just got better.

"…" Lynx climbed higher up a tree and looked at the giant, bright red octopus in the distance, before turning to Reborn, and pointing at it.

"Ah. That's Skull's pet. He's got no style, does he?"

Lynx shook her head before stating, "…It looks tasty…"

"Agreed."

And they made their way to battle.

* * *

Throughout her time in school, Lynx had picked up on some very obvious things, such as the fact that Tsuna was madly in love with Kyoko, but didn't have the nerve to approach her, and made for very interesting comedic scenes when shoved together.

Thus the current situation.

Tsuna was pushed behind by an unknown force which may, or may not have been a slightly homicidal wallflower girl, and ran straight into Kyoko, made a fool of himself, and then flushed, and stuttered, and waved goodbye as she walked through the gates.

Yay.

Then, with help of Hyper Intuition, Tsuna figured out that Lynx was the unknown force who had directed this scandal, and thus, turned to her with a not-at-all intimidating expression that said 'what was that for?'

Lynx shrugged.

"Helping along your love life." Which was growing old and dying, by the way. "You seemed like you needed it."

And it did help. So the ends justify the means. Fwuahaha.

Tsuna immediately turned bright red as he realized that, "Y-you know I like Kyoko?" Apparently, he did not expect her to know.

"…Er." Lynx says, ever so eloquently.

It had been kind of…insanely obvious? The guy turned into some kind of human blob whenever she was around! Not the mention the staring and drooling (which was kinda gross) and fluffy pink hearts in his eyes…How could she _not _know?

For his sake, Lynx managed to dig up some excuse from ancient times.

"You _did _confess with your head on fire…" Or so says Reborn and the student population, anyway. Lynx was glad she wasn't there to lay witness to the catastrophe.

And now Tsuna was the one overtaken by awkward silence. Ha.

"R-Right." And he noticed something, most probably with help of Hyper Intuition. "You seem a lot more…errmm…talkative now, Lynx. I just realized that." He says, blinking. And you know what? He liked it this way. He could converse with a fellow SANE person now!

Meanwhile, Lynx froze. _What?_

She thought back to these last few months.

At first, it was gestures. Then, simple one-word phrases. Then, sentences. And now…now she was…_she was no longer emitting dark waves of killer doom! No! What happened!?_

"I have." She stated vacantly. _Holy shit. _

Tsunayoshi and his gang of crazy mafia psychopaths had managed to make her NOT an ice block! What was the world coming to? How could she have let this have happened? Nooooo….

"Lynx? Is something wrong?" Tsuna asked with whole hearted concern, eyes radiating pure, unadulterated kindness, and Lynx almost cringed away, even as her inner self was banging her head on a desk. _Bang. Bang. Bang. _It was a disaster of epic proportions.

She needed to get away from this…this aura of…sunny goodness.

Lynx pointed at something behind Tsuna and waved goodbye, as Gokudera and Yamamoto came over, and she vanished away to head to her apartment, which took the opposite route of Tsuna's house.

"S-See you tomorrow, Lynx!"

And just when did they start dropping the suffix to her name? They were not intimate, dammit!

She desperately needed evil energy recuperation. Oh, look, there's Hibari! Let's just walk on by…

His murderous aura felt nice.

* * *

_**During the peak of summer vacation**_

It was the time in which Lynx locks herself up in a cold, dark room and never comes out.

Ever.

Because heavy, concentrated, summer sunshine is hazardous to creatures of darkness, and Lynx would rather not spontaneously combust out of the blue, thank you very much. Not that some people haven't purposely tried. You know, to make her explode? (Figuratively, and not so figuratively).

Yeah, people were shitty like that…

Moving on, it was on one such day, in the middle of the bright, sunny, time of joy, that Lynx was sitting on her bed, book upon her lap, and wallowing in the wonders of 1000 page encyclopedias with the AC turned to max that something happened.

It was on this day, that Reborn decided to unceremoniously drop by, and try to scare her to death, had she not been so used to his numerous intrusions.

"There's a festival tonight." Reborn says, stroking Leon.

"…" He wasn't suggesting that…oh no. _Hell_ no.

Reborn smirked. Lynx caught on fast, didn't she?

"I want you to go."

Lynx lowered her book, and leveled a flat, evil-looking stare in his direction.

"Family bonding?"

"Mmmhm."

"…" Why? She was anti-social! And evil! And utterly not benefiting to Tsuna's growth as a mafia boss, so just why did she have to join their stupid 'Family Bonding' time? They were practically close already! Isn't it enough that they went off and killed her dark and evil aura?

Lynx did not want to somehow lose her sanity, too.

"Or would you like quality time with Hibari? You seem like the type he can actually stand. I have his number…"

Reborn morphed Leon to a cellphone, and was in the process of nonchalantly typing in the number with little _Beep! Beep! Beep!'s _ for every button when Lynx hastily closed her book and declared that she'll turn up at the festival because while sanity was wonderful, you can't enjoy that sanity if you were DEAD.

"That's what I thought." said Reborn, smirking.

Lynx sighed.

She should've known better than to try and talk herself out of a deal with the devil.

* * *

Her eyebrow twitched.

So here she was, dressed up in this horrendously restricting traditional yukuta, while the guys can wear wonderful wonderful NORMAL clothes, and walk around unhindered by giant flappy sleeves and sandals that were created for the sole purpose of making you look like a penguin.

A significantly awkward penguin. She even had black and white colored designs!

"…" Lynx stared miserably at her yukuta, and held out the sleeves with a pitiful, why-must-I-do-this expression.

Upon meeting Tsuna and co in the festival, Gokudera had immediately cracked up upon seeing her, and in response, she heaved a long suffering sigh because yes, she looked ridiculous, and yes, there was nothing she can do about it. Damn.

"Ahaha! Don't worry, Lynx! You look great!"

"Y-yeah!" said Tsuna.

"Thanks."

That helped. Sorta. Not really.

And so off they went, to enjoy the festival of bright, cheery, summer-ness, that reflected on their beach clothes, with happy attitudes, and warm, fuzzy atmospheres, and…

Lynx was slowly dying on the inside.

_I'm not ready for this. Not. At. ALL._

* * *

_**NEW POLL ON PROFILE: WHAT SHOULD LYNX BE FOR VARIA ARC? Review votes and suggestions are accepted.**_

* * *

**This chapter was so choppy TT_TT. And short. But I'm trying to hurry along the fillers, so yeah...**_  
_

**Reviews are welcome, and much appreciated. **


	8. In Mukuro LaLaLand

Ten minutes into the festival, and Lynx was already swimming in the pits of depression doom.

Between cheers and games and happy atmospheres that would give Mukuro the warms and fuzzies, Lynx felt like her mind was on the verge of spontaneous combustion, as her creepy vampire-ness was slowly melted away, exposing her to deadly rays of The Sunshine.

She was not happy. At all.

Which was why, upon the order that Tsuna and co. run a choco-banana stand in order to pay for some pool fiasco that Lynx had absolutely no part in, the wallflower firmly drew the line and vanished off in true ninja fashion, leaving a bewildered Tsuna behind.

Now, roughly 2AM, Lynx was back in her apartment, finally free of the atrocious death trap which took form in a yukuta, and pondering her next course of action.

She has been letting her guard down lately, and was much too carefree for one such as herself. It was dangerous. There were loose ends to wrap, and she needed to quickly become stronger, or risk consequences that would most likely end with her head decapitated on a pike and such.

She needed find someone powerful to teach her, and then focus on sealing the only possible source of information leak.

It both came in one person. A certain someone who was evil, manipulative, and psychopathic to the point where she would appear sane besides them.

Rokudo Mukuro.

(Here, she involuntarily shuddered a little)

Admittedly, Lynx has been very lax these past few days after he went down, but now, the thrill of victory and vacation was over, and things were coming back to serious business.

Mukuro was the one person who possibly knew her identity (besides Reborn, and even he only had a fuzzy outline), and maybe even a speculation of her history, and had come in contact with her while she was in Namimori. He had appeared to have no business with her, knew nothing of her abilities (why else would he dump her in a pit with an injured Hibari Kyoya?) but…

Gah. She was the paranoid type, and it didn't sit well with her that someone knew her location and possible identity.

Also, no matter how hard she thought, she couldn't come up with someone other than Rokudo Mukuro to make her stronger.

He was the epitome of the opponents she'd face in the future – evil, cunning, ruthless, and manipulative. There was no better way to prepare than through him, and he'd probably be more than willing to do so if Lynx makes an offer he can't refuse.

But then, to contact him she'd have to take drastic action, and the risk of information leaks would increase, not to mention there's the _Vindice _involved…

Lynx grimaced.

This was much more complicated than she thought.

* * *

Lynx stared down at the thing in her hands with a look of utter incredulousness.

Was she….seriously going to risk it? This was _Mukuro _she was dealing with, and for all she knew, this could go so very wrong in colorful ways, and things haven't quite gotten that desperate yet (emphasis on the YET.)

Then she thought back to the recent battle.

How Mukruo had totally pwned her ass to the pits of defeated doom. How he outsmarted her, and overpowered her with illusions and strength. How it just added salt to an old wound that refused to heal. How he was…completely perfect for the role she had in mind.

Lynx decided.

She was going to do it.

So, gingerly holding the trident left behind, she stood in the upper floor of Kokuyo Land, the last battlefield of Rokudo Mukruo, and nimbly scratched the palm of her hand. The connection would be established, and she was flaring psychic signals all around, not to mention she had opened her mind, and lowered her defenses.

Even if Mukuro was locked up in a pickle jar, he should still be able to use his head, and at the moment, she was a shining beacon with 'Escape!' written all over her.

Whatever chemicals in her body, they couldn't totally prevent a _mental _connection from being established. It may interfere if Mukuro tried to take over her _body _(which was a good thing, mind you) but if it's just mental conversation, there should be no problem, so long as Lynx is not safeguarding her mind.

Her connection lane was completely open. There's no way Mukuro would ignore this.

So she waited.

Ten minutes later, Lynx was wondering if she had miscalculated something, or if Mukuro had been turned into a true, genuine pickle, mindless vegetable and all, thus completely void of his powers, and unable to contact her, and…

She was pondering these things when suddenly, she was standing on an elegant balcony in the middle of the night with a dark forest in view. Lynx then glanced down and realized that she was in an extremely high tower and that holy shit was that a long way down.

Strangely enough, there where giant, pale crystal chunks scattered all over, and even sticking out from the balcony walls.

The only source of light was the moon, which, for some reason, was shifting from blue, to purple, to red, to green, to something in between, and frankly, she was losing track of all the colors. And there were silver ravens flying about.

Lynx was more than a bit weirded out, and had a sudden desire to sit down.

A fancy chair materialized out of nowhere, and knocked her off her feet. An English tea table popped out, and along with it, another chair that was positioned in front of her, on the other side of the table.

It took a moment for her to realize that there was a cup of color-changing tea before her, the pot was pouring on its own, and that another cup was placed in front of the other chair on the other side.

She blinked._ What the fuck?_

"Kufufufufu~"

Something materialized before her in a glob of mist, and through it, she could make out pineapple styled hair. It cleared, and before her, sat Rokudo Mukuro in all his creepy fruity glory.

Lynx stared, blankly. Then, in completely monotone:

"Hi."

She tried to ignore the vines crawling up the wall. They started blooming purple roses.

"Well, your mind is certainly…interesting." He mused, looking around and raising an eyebrow at a sudden stream of floating, overly-decorated mirrors that drifted by in a zigzag pattern, as though they were dancing. Which was followed by a crystalized pineapple. That was red. And shiny.

He twitched, and looked away from the balcony's view, before smiling at her diabolically.

"Now then…I take it, you've summoned me for a reason?" He asked, staring at Lynx intently. She stared right back.

"Summoned?"

Mukuro shrugged, and sipped his tea. Which was neon turquoise.

"My trident's contract automatically pulls my consciousness to the victim. Once a connection is established, my attention is diverted, whether I like it or not, and the contractor can summon me to their mind, should they be strong enough. I'd have no choice but to appear then."

Lynx nodded. That was handy.

Then Mukuro added, "But should the contractor be weaker, then I can completely take over their mind and destroy their consciousness, thus gaining control of their body."

Or not. Not to self: Never try this if Mukuro is not chained up by Vindice while in a pickle jar surrounded by various power restraining instruments of sorts. She did not want to turn into a human puppet, thank you very much.

Lynx coughed lightly. The tea was surprisingly nice, despite its vivid colors.

"I'm here to make a deal with you." She stated bluntly.

"Oh? And what deal would that be?"

"I'll shield your friends from Vindice."

Mukuro's eyebrows shot up, his interest peaked, and now giving Lynx his full attention (he had been distracted by a school of glittering swordfish swimming through the sky with the words 'WE LOVE PINEAPPLE' spelled by their scales. He seems to have something against that fruit, oddly enough…)

"How do you know of that?" The breakout had happened only one week ago, not nearly enough time to circulate throughout the mafia world, or any organization, for that matter.

It was Lynx's turn to shrug.

"I have resources." She was poor for a reason.

Nearly all of Lynx's resources were dedicated to covering tracks and hunting down information, which is often only given out for high prices, and as Lynx cannot take action to personally obtain it, she must pay the price in exchange.

Thus the crappy apartment.

Admittedly, Lynx could have lived in high-class, but as most Mafioso prefer living in style, to avoid contact, she opted for normal apparel, and the run down hotel on the far side of town. It was her life at sake. She could deal with little sacrifices.

"Kufufufu~" Mukuro chuckled. "You're an interesting one. And I assume that in exchange, you want me to keep quiet about your identity?"

Lynx nodded.

"Also, I want you...To be my mentor."

* * *

Mukuro blinked. Then chuckled. Then full on laughed (which was totally not freaky) as he realized what Lynx had just implied.

"You…want _me _to teach you?" he said, after ceasing the laughing fit.

Lynx glared at him and twitched a little.

"…I need a combat partner. You're my only option."

Because Reborn had Tsuna, Gokudera was unsuitable, Yamamoto was Yamamoto, Ryohei was just…no, and Hibari would insist on fighting nonstop and ignore her actual purpose in favor of beating the pus out of her.

Mukuro was strong enough, and sensible enough to be a challenging opponent who will force her to improve her wits and physical strength, while being most compatible with her fighting style. He was the only choice, dammit!

"Kufufufu~" He turned back to the balcony view. "Very well. But you'll have to bring Ken and Chikusa to Kokuyo Land, first. Along with my new vessel."

Then he turned to Lynx and smiled creepily.

"Unless, of course, you would like to be my vessel instead?"

Lynx glared and asked for the name and locations of both parties, before cutting their link, after obtaining the promise that in addition to being her sparring partner/mentor, Mukuro would keep her identity to himself, and refrain from informing Tsuna and co.

He agreed.

As she exited Kokuyo Land with a newly acquired trident, Lynx supposed it was a successful mission overall. So long as you ignore the fact that she just lost about ten years of her lifespan. And sanity. Amongst other things.

* * *

_**Plane ride. Oh shit.**_

"…And I still don't see why Mukuro-san would ask _you _of all people when you're obviously with that Vongola brat and we don't need your help when we can get to Japan perfectly fine on our own and…"

Three seats behind them (which was as far as she could go), Lynx twitched and glared over the top of a magazine.

This is what she gets when she willingly listens to the demands of a psychotic criminal mastermind wanted by the mafia for mindfucking important political figures who nobody gave a shit about. Figures. She should have seen this coming.

Sneaking her ass out of Namimori without Reborn's notice had been a bitch to pull off, not to mention that this took an all-mighty hunk out of her overstocked bank account.

And yes, Lynx was hella greedy.

She did not particularly welcome the idea of spending a shitload of money for the sake of others, but this was all in the name of survival, so for now, she'll cope.

Just barely.

A few days ago, as per Mukuro's demands, Lynx had gone off to the middle of some desolate place in the mafia-infested Italy, and dragged back a few mentally deranged convicts onboard a private plane driven by a partially brainwashed pilot who may, or may not have been secretly an android.

There was much yelling, and screaming, and all around violence before Lynx managed to sneak their sorry asses back to Japan.

It turns out that so long as there were no demon poles lying around, Lynx could manage to take them on.

Revenge was sweet.

Then, Lynx painstakingly explained what was going on, and they managed to pause in trying to kill each via tossing someone out the window and to their imminent death a couple thousand feet below. Now she just had to put up with some feral idiot yelling his head off about Mukuro-san this, Mukuro-san that, and so on and so forth.

Not the most pleasant experience.

At least the emotionally detached robot with the needles (aka, Chikusa) knew how to be quiet.

Still, Lynx wasn't sure she could take much more of this brain-numbing yelling without the aid of ducktape and some heavy-duty earplugs. She was reminded yet again of how life was just so beautifully shittastic.

* * *

_**Plane ride #2. Shittastical.**_

Three hours later, Lynx deposited the two idiots in Kokuyo Land with her sanity barely intact.

Now she had to take a stop at some hospital in the middle of nowhere in order to pick up the latest addition to Mukuro's pack of mentally deranged cronies. She was not looking forward to it. No doubt they would verbally traumatize her brain some more. Or so she thought.

Lynx was rather surprised when the assumed psychopath turned out to be a teenaged girl, a little younger than her, and, above all else…incredibly sane.

Nagi, that was her name. Was. It had changed to Chrome since she encountered Mukuro, and her hair had also been changed to a pineapple style (here, Lynx's inner self cringed a little).

Lynx was, much as she hated to admit, actually quite empathetic to this girl. She had lost her organs, and an eye, along with her past life, all in the matter of a few hours. Her parents abandoned her. It was extremely tragic.

So in a fit of empathic doom, Lynx and Chrome bonded over shitty feelings and the start of a new (chaotic) life in the mafia. (Even though Lynx wasn't _officially_ in the mafia. Try as Reborn may, she has never verbally accepted a formal invitation to the Vongola Family. She was just…an acquaintance of sorts).

"Eto….Lynx-san, how do you know Mukuro-sama?"

Mukuro-sama. Lynx nearly cringed again, as she and Chrome chatted in the private plane. The poor girl already encountered that psychopath on multiple occasions during times of weakness. Lynx feared for her sanity.

"Mukuro and I…" That sounded so wrong. "Are business partners, of a sort." Lynx said hesitantly.

Just because Mukuro would be teaching her, and helping her improve her skills, did NOT mean she will refer to him as 'Sensei' 'Master' 'Mukuro-sama' or such and such. She still had her pride, thank you very much.

Though it was feeling sore and bruised and very small at this point. No thanks to Reborn.

"I see." Chrome said softly.

In Lynx's humble opinion, Chrome was…nice. Still in the light, despite her unfortunate circumstances. She didn't deserve to be pulled into this mafia, and was only doing so because she can't survive without illusionary organs.

She nearly sighed. It was such a cruel, cruel world.

Lynx might as well prepare her.

"Let me tell you about Ken, and Chikusa…and the Vongola family."

Sacred omertà be damned. Chrome needed all the help she can get.

* * *

_**Many days later**_

"Err…Lynx, are you okay?"

The sociopathic wallflower lifted her head a bit, seeing a blob of brown, before plopping back into her arms, obviously dead tired.

"I'm fine," she says, voice muffled. _I've been tortured by a psychopathic criminal in an illusionary world of PINK FLUFFY FLOWERS as we fight to the death over and over. It was damn peachy. _

"Um." Tsuna says, not buying it, and looking at her concernedly. Nearby, Gokudera 'tched' as he ate his store bought sandwich, glancing at her incredulously.

"As if!" He snorted. "You look dead on your feet."

Lynx didn't have the energy for a snappy retort. She just wanted to sleep like the dead.

"Maa, I'm sure Lynx will be fine after some rest! Let's not bother her, 'kay?"

Yamamoto Takeshi…was an angel. But then, that wasn't necessarily a good thing, because Lynx was still a creature of darkness, and as such, would die from his holy rays of blinding sunshine. His smile of doom still stunned her. (But she's working on that! Someday, she'll be immune!)

Training with Mukuro was apparently two-sided.

Chrome needed to learn to use his powers, so naturally, Lynx was the practice dummy.

In the real, physical world, she fought against Chrome, and was the practice target of her illusions and skewering attempts, and many rampaging snake blob attacks.

In the freaky-ass world of Mukuro-La-La-Land (which had freaking PINK FLOWERS and birds and trees and...urg. The mindfuck! It burns!), she fought against the real thing, and did everything within her power to obtain victory. Wounds did not matter, it was an illusionary world, and she can die without worrying about the consequences.

Fighting unrestrainedly against Mukuro and his criminal mastermind-ness definitely upped her fighting skills.

All her experience in the mental world was carried over to reality.

There was just one thing. One tiny little detail really, that totally didn't matter at ALL and was SO not important because of course Mukuro would_ just so happen_ to forget mentioning that the _pain _carried over as well. It was wonderful. Especially since Lynx had died like five times over in there, so as a result, was now in high on painkiller and exhausted to the point of passing out when walking, much to Tsuna's concern.

To make it worse, she trained with him all night, every night (Urg, that sounded SO wrong…) and only had the few daytime hours to recover from whatever trauma he put her through, before going to practice with Chrome.

Damn him and his mind invading powers.

Lynx had originally planned on controlling the amounts of training sessions, but apparently, Mukuro was bored out of his mind in Vendicare, and consequently, has taken to sparring against her whenever he was bored.

Which was every waking second.

The sneak attacks in the middle of the night were not amusing.

Lynx had become susceptible to the sneak attacks because, while she had originally been able to block out Mukuro, he had all the time in the world, and has been using it to make stronger attempts at getting in her mind.

Success equaled unscheduled sneak attack/ training session.

Therefore, Lynx had to improve her mental guard against Mukuro, too, if she ever wanted to sleep at night without worrying about scarring mental trauma which involve a certain pineapple headed convict. Even he tires eventually, and she just had to hold out long enough.

And all that…Well…Eventually, it takes its toll.

After a few days, Tsuna and co. started noticing her exhaustion, and Reborn just looked at her, took in her state, and nodded approvingly, as though he knew what was going on, because that's just Reborn.

Needless to say, Lynx's skills were improving rapidly. Her sanity was ebbing away steadily. And now...

Lynx stared at the text message with alarmingly empty eyes. Eyes that have not slept in days. Eyes that have been repeatedly traumatized. Eyes that were thought to have seen every horror the world has to offer. Until now.

The eyes twitched, violently, as Lynx continued staring at the text message.

She had thought Mukuro was bad enough.

But Iemitsu? Varia? The _Vongola Rings? _Her eyes twitched some more.

_ What...the hell is this?_

* * *

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	9. So Totally Screeeewed

Screwed. They were so, totally, screwed.

It was a little late to start wondering, but Lynx was seriously starting to question exactly what the hell Tsuna did with his spare time. Because one way or another, he had pissed off a new and rising mafia lord with anger issues and combustible hands and freaky flames of utter DOOM and a very immense desire to kill him.

Thus the reason agents are coming to Japan. Crazy, homicidal, relatively insane agents who may, or may not hate the guts of whatever idiot dares take the title of Vongola Decimo.

AKA Tsuna. Which is damn peachy.

Looking up from her text message, Lynx took in Tsuna's relaxed posture and utterly naive carelessness that all pointed to the sad fact that he had no clue what fresh hell was about to come.

Where was Reborn? Wasn't that stupid infant supposed to protect Tsunayoshi or some shit? Or did he already know, but was withholding information?

Lynx could feel an impending headache. Yeah, that sinking feeling of doom was growing steadily by the second, and it felt like someone was trying to inconspicuously probe into her mind and — hold it.

'_...Mukuro?'_ She mentally deadpanned.

'_Kufufufu~'_

Pause. Pause. PausePausePausePausePause. What?

'…_Why are _you_ in my head?'_

Because Lynx was quite sure that she put in relatively significant amounts of effort to keep him OUT of her head. Not that he tries to get in often, and not that her mental mind barriers were all that fortified (since illusion training means she _has _to let Mukuro in) but still. Why was he here?

Insert Mukuro smiley face.

'_I was bored. Your mind was available. Can you blame me?' _

And that explained it all. Note to self: find some kind of evilly sadistic, yet sadistically amusing form of entertainment within the next three days. Mukuro definitely needed a new hobby. One not involving her _brain._

But maybe it was a good thing he dropped by. Lynx needed to have a little chat with him anyway.

'_Mukuro, I'm ending the tutoring.'_

Raised eyebrow.

'_Oh? Really...I suppose something has happened.'_.

Something happened? Why yes. There was a rabid assassin squad on the move to invade the town in which Lynx currently resides and things had just gone from 'damn-I-gotta-train-my-ass-off-like-there's-no-tomorrow' to, 'holy-shit-it's-the-Apocalypse-and-we're-all-freaking-screeeeewed.'

So to summarize.

'_There was a slight disturbance.' _

Understatement of the century. And more. No, really, this is the Varia they were dealing with, and no sane man would label homicidal assassins who put nuclear weapons to shame as 'slight distrubances.' Have ye not heard of the infamous Varia Doom Factor? It's the latest law of the mafia world.

But that aside.

Lynx paused. She felt like she was overlooking some critical detail of the demands of society.

Five seconds later, the most horrible idea popped into her head. It was going to be the most shameless thing she has done since blatantly jumping into a river to save that drowning furball who nobody really gave a shit about (Shut up. It was only because of the peer pressure. Not because it was fluffy. And cute. And kitty-cuddly-ish. No. It was because she was the only one in a crowd of panicked morons who ever learned how to swim, dammit).

'_Thanks,' _Lynx tacked on reluctantly.

'_Kufufufu~ I suppose I can say the same to you. After all, convincing the Vindice to let off escapees isnt exactly easy...how_ did_ you accomplish that?'_

Lynx mentally twitched. It involved negotiations, bribes, and a whole lot of information trading which may, or may not have condemned some unknown soul to their pickled jars of utter demise.

(What? Being a wallflower has benefits! Not to mention, it was equivalent exchange over a phone! You know, evil convict for less evil convicts and all? Not like she would be stupid enough to see the Vindice _personally _or something...)

'_You really think I'd tell you?'_ She flatly intoned.

'_It was worth a shot.' _He gave a virtual shrug. Then Lynx realized that an evil psychopathic sadist has just demonstrated that he can successfully plant random images into her mind, and the implications for the future consequences following what this may lead to were not pretty.

'_...Don't probe into my mind anymore. I'm resetting my barriers.'_ Lynx stiffly informed him.

She did not particularly care for a future filled with scarring mental images that Mukuro can send her via virtual mind mail that this creepy connection can give him access to. It was time to terminate the link.

Mukuro chuckled eerily, as if he can hear her thoughts, which admittedly, was just a bit unnerving.

'_Leaving me the moment you no longer have a use for me? I'm hurt.' _No, not really. But let's pretend. _'But I suppose I'm about finished with you as well. Chrome has mastered two of the paths, after all.'_

Mukuro paused, and Lynx had a brief moment to ponder on what his twisted mind may be thinking.

Then, he spoke.

'_Until next time.' _

The connection was severed.

Lynx blinked. Next time. That implied something not at all pleasant. She refused to think about it. No, this little tidbit of information can go into the happy jar of potentially mind scarring items which must not be let out on pain of insanity, so she can forget all about it. Yes. Of course. That was perfectly fine.

The perpetually disturbing chant of _'doomdoomdoomDoom!_' that her mind insisted as background music did not reassure her.

* * *

Lynx had the strangest sensation of being watched.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she thought she glimpsed a dark shape on the other end of the roof, but…no, it was not there anymore, and it could have been just about anything, too.

Sighing faintly, and unwilling to spare any unnecessary effort in a fruitless display of tiredness that no one would hear anyway, Lynx sat by her lonesome self on the other side building, an extra, just a bit smaller than the main building, and absentmindedly stared off into space like some utter moron.

Tsuna and the others were eating lunch on the other roof, within her range of eyesight, but she only abstractedly noted them along with the yellow bird passing by.

Lynx was engrossed in her thoughts.

She needed to sort out her goals and priorities right now, just in case, so when the time for action comes she will have no hesitations and no whimsical pauses whatsoever.

So. Impending death in the form of Varia assassins. How did she feel?

Surprisingly…Not that worried.

She didn't know whether it was because her brain was hardwired to take on these things efficiently, or because she was just too…used to it. Honestly. It wouldn't be the first time, not at all.

But something was off.

Usually, based on past experience, Lynx would at least feel a little twinge of anticipation, a little spice of fear to set her senses in hyper drive, coiled tightly and ready to spring at the tiniest threat.

Now was not the same.

Lynx didn't feel _any _fear, any nervousness, not even the slightest little sliver of worry. Why? What was different? There were assassins coming soon, and high level ones that were definitely threats who could give her a run for her money. So why wasn't she on tense guard? She only felt…blank. Like she knew what to do, how to do it, had done it dozens of times, and was running through the movements like some robot or something.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

What was different about this round of deadly dangers?

Thinking through the factors, the only thing Lynx could come up with was that Tsuna was the prime target. And she wasn't. They didn't know her, and she wasn't their number one kill-now-think-later-because-she's-the-one-whose-head-is-wanted anymore.

Prehaps that was it.

But aside from that, Lynx felt like something was wrong in the weirdest way imaginable.

Not frightening. Just...wrong. Bad-ish. But not really...dangerous.

It was like a veteran fighter's bullet wound, something that will spring up and start flaring, bothering you until you take care of the problem, because if you wait until it's too late, something _really _unpleasant will definitely happen.

But oddly, it wasn't directed at her.

It was like her danger sense was tingling for someone else, and the sense of incoming utter demise was the fate of another person, not hers, which was why while her mind was insisting that there was danger, Lynx's body didn't register, because the danger wasn't aimed at _her. _

Which all leads back to Tsuna. The adorkable moron with a harem of lunatics posing as his guardians.

No doubt that as Vongola tradition, Yamamoto and Gokudera and whatever unfortunate souls down the road who become chained into Tsuna's mafia life would somehow be coerced into being his Guardians.

Lynx was not one of them, that she was sure.

Because she was not part of Tsuna's family. She wasn't even his _friend _for crying out loud.

They were merely acquaintances, people who talked to each other when the evil Reborn-caused situation arose, and aside from interaction that occurred at school due to aforementioned Reborn-caused situations, they rarely talked.

The only reason they met in the first place was because Tsuna was the epitome of great trouble, Lynx was a trouble magnet of unbelievable magnitudes, and as such, they had the misfortune of crashing into each other as both tuna aerial artillery and bloody slate pavement paint. Respectively. The bloodstains were still there.

Lynx had no intentions of getting wrapped up in some Vongola mafia which would cause her no good other than blowing her cover faster, and perhaps taking about a decade off her lifespan with each extra minute she spends in their company.

Never. Not unless some drastic circumstances arrive, and somehow, joining them would be a great benefit to her survival or something. Which was about a one in three billion chance, mind you.

So. In conclusion to this utterly pathetic sort-out-funny-feelings-in-face-of-impending-death moment: Ignore shitty outlooks of impending death and slaughter, stick to her usual course of action, hope that nothing goes wrong, and then curse the world when something inevitably disastrous happens and she's stuck in one hell of a deep pit filled with snakes and spikes and ten ton shackles.

Ah, the beauty of life.

…Sigh…

Why her?

* * *

Three hours after school on her way to set up her epic plan of anti-assassins, Lynx found herself in the most interesting predicament. Already. No, the assassins had not yet arrived. But still. This qualified as something most definitely life-threatening.

"What?" He snapped. "You got something to say?"

"…"

Gokudera shot her a nasty glare, as though she were committing some heinous crime by standing within five feet radius of him. Not that she wasn't personally mortified to be in such horrifyingly close proximity, too (Five feet. Five. Feet. Too damn close).

They were both at the bookstore afterschool, see, and while Gokudera may be a loyal guard puppy with stalker-ish tendencies, he wasn't a _compete_ stalker. He understood the concept of personal space, and was fully capable of giving his precious Tenth some breathing room and alone time, along with his own personal dynamite restocking moments.

Then, of course, there were his hobbies. Not that they were weird or anything. They were just…unique.

Lynx had never quite pegged him as the UFO and UMA type of guy, but then again, the world is full of unpleasant surprises, and as such, Gokudera Hayato must have one such hobby and consequently, run into her at the bookstore.

Without Tsuna.

In other words, fully capable of making attempts on her life without being reprimanded by one force or another.

Shit. And she thought the Varia would do her in.

Eyeing him warily, Lynx raised an eyebrow and jabbed at the general direction of the shelf approximately three feet away from him, wearing the universal facial expression that proclaimed 'Calm the fuck down,' even as her inner self wailed at the concept of going even one step closer to the soon-to-erupt volcano human thing.

She was here to dig out some very important old document which she hid in the beginning of her arrival at Namimori.

Unfortunately, said documents were imbedded in the inner ridges of the fifth level of a shelf which happened to be in Gokudera's range of sight. Therefore, he needed to get the fuck out before he either kills her, blows up the library, or attempts some other form of explosive harm. It called for a distraction. An out of character, casual, just-dropping-by kinda thing.

"Nothing." Lynx said, as a reply to his question from way back who knew when (It was only like fifteen seconds, actually).

"Just that...There's a sale on those latest UMA magazines down the street. Third block. Thought you might be interested."

Here, Gokudera quirked a disbelieving eyebrow and paused in his vicious attempt to vanquish her with the force of a murderous glare which rivaled her own, even as his hands snaked to his lighter and dynamite.

"You…You don't find this surprising?" He said incredulously, lowing his bombs minutely.

Everyone thought it was weird. He, the smoking bomb hitman with all his violent reputations and unending dedication to the Tenth, liked to divulge in a world of make-believe (Shut up! It's real! Wait 'till aliens invade, and then we'll see who's laughing!) and this vampire woman doesn't find it weird at all?

Speaking of which, _was _she a vampire? The pale skin and freaky eyes and whacked up hair color definitely fit the definition, but…hmm…HMMM…

Five minutes later, along with numerous loud Gokudera-ish sayings, and threats, and right hand man speeches, Lynx was free to dig up her ancient documents, and be on her merry way down town. She needed some materials to gear up for any incoming attempts to jap her head on an electric pike and such, and now, money really wasn't an issue (Info selling, blackmail, yada,yada…there's all kinds of ways to get rich quick).

Lynx came out unscathed after an encounter with Gokudera Hayato. An admittedly brief, not very interesting encounter, but still. No dynamites were sacrificed in the making of those moments. Amazing.

* * *

The next day, when explosions rocked the downtown square and a faint Italian 'Voooi' was heard, Lynx stared out from her high perch on some random building in the middle of nowhere and knew that the Varia has arrived. Amongst other things. Dangerous things.

"It's been a while." A masculine voice. Deadly. Threatening. Instant reaction trigger.

Daggers flew, strikes exchanged, and shredding his hood, Lynx caught glimpse at the face of her foe.

And stared.

There was no way.

No. Way.

**27272727**

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**Thank you for your support!**


	10. Mystery, Mystery, Go Away

Lynx stared with the most horrific sinking feeling as deep, darkest green locks spilled out from beneath the shredded hood, and the attacker's identity was evident.

Noel. Noel-freaking-Valvaro, that traitorous bastard was still _alive?_

The spiky, abet short hair was longer than she remembered, but his stupid side fringe on the right was the same as ever, and god, did his face just piss her the hell off.

The good for nothing bastard was supposed to be _dead._

What the hell was he doing here, haunting her like some creepy green headed ghost?

Lynx's situation had completely changed. She was no longer the casual, push-me-to-the-side girl who merely wanted to live. No. This was no longer just Tsuna's battle, this was _her_ business and if Noel thought he could show his face without her at least trying to stab an eye out, he had a whole nother thing coming.

Noel landed on his feet, and flipped back several meters.

His pale yellow eyes widened just a fraction as Lynx flew at him with the most purposefully blank expression. Nothing on her face betrayed what she would do, except for her eyes, a burning dark turquoise that was almost green, haunted by a shadowy emotion.

Training with Mukuro definitely paid off, Lynx noted. Her silver switchblade struck in and out rapidly, like a well-oiled machine, and her speed was pretty damn good.

But that wasn't enough.

Noel's weapon was this huge single edged blade that looked like a giant stretched battle axe without the handle. It was about half his height with a grip in the middle, and an incredible pain to deal with. What's more, Noel had the advantage of size and strength. If she wanted to win, she was going to need something more...but what?

There was no time to pause.

Noel deflected her flurry of strikes with the broad side of his blade, using it as a shield, before whirling around, and slamming the sharp end of his axe into the place Lynx had stood mere seconds before.

Rolling to her feet, Lynx lunged forwards, and grazed the side of his ribs, before he dug his weapon firmly into the ground, and back flipped off the top of it, throwing a flying kick in her direction. Which she dodged.

It was becoming a pattern.

She executed quick, speedy combinations, while he tried to butcher her with deadly, dangerous swipes that could easily crush her should he get a single hit.

It was a tricky battle, as close combat was both of their specialties. She needed to find his weakness, and fast.

Suddenly, Noel leaped backwards and started backtracking rapidly, far, far away, to a distance out of range of both their weapons. He pulled back his battle axe in a suspicious position that implied something Lynx did not want to consider.

Her eyes widened.

_He's not gonna...oh shit._

He threw it.

Flying at her in the straightest line imaginable, was this freaking huge modified battle axe going so fast it was a blur. Lynx barely sidestepped in time, the edge of the axe grazing her cheek when it whooshed past her, missing by an inch.

Grimacing internally, she noted that there was a thin, but durable looking chain attached to the back of the axe.

Which was bad.

Because sure enough, she had to duck and swerve when Noel pulled on his end of the chain, and the battle axe whipped past her yet again, landing neatly in the palm of the greenhead's hand.

For the first time since the battle began, there was a standstill.

Her opponent spoke, with a familiar wry tone that was now lined with danger. It brought up a wave of nostalgia. Lynx squashed the feeling instantly.

"You've changed." He remarked icily, giving her a once over. There was something in his eyes that was not nice. Not nice at all.

Lynx hefted her blades in response.

Noel walked forwards slowly, and gave her a look fueled with so much emotion that Lynx was almost taken aback.

"Why did you betray us?" He hissed acidly, gripping his weapon tighter, and pinning her with a glare that spoke volumes, of pain, hatred, desire and...hurt?

Lynx blinked. _What?_

But before she could ask what the hell he was talking about, on the other side of town, an ear splitting 'Vooooi!' resounded and Noel grit his teeth, looking irritated beyond belief.

"I'll be back." he hissed, voice filled with promises of death and doom.

With that utterly pleasant word of farewell, Noel hightailed it in Squalo's direction (it had to be Squalo, no one else on the Varia fit the whole 'VOOOI' tendency description) and left Lynx very confused and sort of pissed at the fact that she didn't draw much blood.

But that wasn't important.

What on earth was he talking about?

_She_ betrayed them? How can he even dare to _imply_ something like that?

Noel had been the one to betray them. He had indirectly caused Cella's death, betraying their location, exposing them and he...was the one who caused them all to...to...

Lynx shook her head, and decided not to think about it for now. Her brain would malfunction due to emotional confusion overload, and she had something else she needed to do. Something quite important.

* * *

Lynx approached the edge of Squalo's battle site, creepy stalker style, just in time to hear an extravagantly girly exclamation of "WHAT'S GOING ON!?" made by the resident tuna fish.

She took in Tsuna in all his green boxer glory, along with what looked like two victims of some mutant shark infestation, a blonde dude with an admittedly feminine hairstyle, and a potted plant that was in the process of shedding itself to reveal Reborn.

She blinked. They took it better than she thought they would.

Lynx pressed herself closer to the wall, and observed. That other kid, with the blondish mop head hair was out cold, but she could distinctly recall scanning his face on an important looking document at some point.

What was his name? Something-something-creepy plant? It had a B in it...

Reborn suddenly turned and caught her eye, subjecting her to a full blown Reborn-glare.

She almost felt guilty. Almost. Because obviously, she was supposed to have been here about twenty minutes ago, supporting our dear soon-to-be-shark-bait Vongola Decimo.

But she had her reasons.

As Dino and his men took the injured away, the cat-eyed girl once again slipped away silently, heading back to her apartment followed by the most uncomfortable sense of approaching imminent death.

She blearily ran a finger over the cut on her cheek in anticipation.

Hell has begun.

* * *

Lynx threw out her most frigid glare at her room's latest occupant.

"You." she said flatly, her voice deadpan.

Before her sat a shadowy figure of a man, masked by a dark cover, with nothing but deep white locks that betrayed any hint of his identity. Which she still didn't know. Not that she really cared or anything, but curiosity tends to flare at these things.

She had returned to her apartment to ponder the mind scarring mystery that was Noel Valvaro's outrageous accusation, but it seems that yet again, it would have to wait.

"Hellooo~ Lynx!" he cheerfully chirped, his tone calm, yet festive, though Lynx had no clue how that works.

"Don't call me that." she darkly intoned. You never know who's listening in.

Mr. I-am-the-wonderful-man-who-supplies-you-with-anything-you-wish-to-know (yes, that was how he introduced himself at their first encounter. It had been a relatively screwed up occasion) ignored her sensible request.

"So. Have you guessed why I'm here?" Her ever mysterious informant gestured dramatically with his hands.

Lynx scowled. Yeah, she knew exactly why he was here.

"They're starting."

"Yup! And that's not all!" He paused and leaned in conspiratorially while Lynx scooted back warily. "This time...they've got a new project. A continuation of five years ago."

...

What.

...

Momentarily stunned, Lynx's eyes flashed with something not at all characteristic of her, something quite Reborn-like, and maybe a dash of that Varia boss with flames of raging doom and madness. And ice. Lots and lots of ice, cold, frigid, and absolutely desperate for...something.

But only for an instant.

All the while, Lynx's mysterious informant just watched with a painted smile, and what's visible of his face looking as though he were somehow...pleased.

In the meantime, Lynx recovered herself, and started sorting through information as fast as her mind can afford.

When this information was coupled with Noel's arrival earlier today, the situation seemed to go from pretty damn nasty to fuckshit horrible in the most hideous traumatic manner possible.

She had no idea what was going on, but it was something big — and deadly.

The Varia was arriving in Japan, along with a tragic ally turned enemy of the past. Her most hated opponent was on the move to continue a project that torn her life to shreds five years ago. And now...now what? What was she going to do?

This was no longer just some assassin case. This was much more, and she needed answers. She needed a them, along with a plan, but before all that, she needed a firm grasp on the big picture , to piece together what on earth was happening. And to do that, she needed to pay a price.

The man before beamed charismastically with a knowing smile. Lynx was very tempted to gut him with a spork, but thankfully refrained from doing so. He had obviously knew what she would do, and Lynx did not enjoy being manipulated in the least.

She scowled, again. Unfortunately, this was necessary.

"Are you ready?" her informant inquired.

Lynx nodded, and crossed her legs, pinning him with her most frigid glare, and preparing to get down to business.

"I want to know everything about their project." she blankly intoned, as though in a trance. Her poker face was perfect. "I want the name of their new targets, their plans for them, what their ultimate goal is, and who is involved. I want to know everything. Past, present, or future, I want every bit of information regarding the Mesperande." She ended in monotone.

Her informant clapped his hands. "Reaally? That's quite expensive, my dear. You realize this will cost much more than money, yes?"

"Of course."

He smiled.

"Very well."

She didn't know that she accepted a deal that would eventuallycement her to Sawada Tsunayoshi. She didn't know that from this point onwards, she was diving into the hell that was her past. That she would be dragged into things she never would have dreamed, to be enlightened on a situation she never even knew existed.

That some things would be irreversibly, inevitably, shattered to the point of no repair.

But what Lynx doesn't know won't hurt her.

Yet.

* * *

Lynx twitched, irritated, and turned to glare murderously at the figure behind her.

"Come out." She deapanned, addressing the figure behind her.

To say Lynx was currently pissed would be something of an understatement. Sort of. She wasn't exactly mad, see, but more of confused and shocked and nursing a strong desire to kill something not to mention frustrated and annoyed and...yeah. It's complicated.

So of course, after finding out that happy fact (along with numerous other soul worthy tidbits of information which she was starting to regret asking for) Lynx was most definitely not in the mood for being stalked by some secret head of Vongola CEDEF who wanted to use her for obscene mafia purposes so his son may earn a snowballs chance of surviving the impending doomsday.

Not. At. All.

She just wasn't interested, dammit!

But unfortunately our (not-so) dear head of CEDEF was not getting the message. Of course not. He had to be that stubborn mule of a protective father who was willing to do _anything_ so she would join his cause (which so happened to involve Lynx hauling her ass out to some mafia battlefield to fight for the shitty tunafish whom she really, really wasn't concerned about at the moment — not when _her_ life was about to get _screwed to shit_).

Sawada Iemitsu walked out from the shadows and scratched his head sheepishly, a Tsuna-esuqe action which emphasized how scary genetics are (it was exactly the freaking same).

No." Lynx bluntly stated, before he even opened his mouth.

Why did everyone want to force these stupid rings upon her? First, it was her annoyingly mysterious informant, who said that all she has to do to pay for her info was accept this little creepy haunted ring amongst various other things. Now, it was Iemitsu offering up this suspicious utter demise guaranteeing Vongola Guardian Ring, and there was no way in hell she would accept that thing. Nuh-uh.

Iemitsu heaved a long-suffering sigh, which served to send inner Lynx into a fuming fit seeing as _she_ should be the one who was sighing. Whatever happened to her signature Exasperated Sigh of Doom? Respect the copyrights, dammit...

"I know," he said.

Yes. He knows. Despite his actions, Iemitsu got the message quite clearly when Lynx attempted to skewer him with a load of sharp, pointy objects when he dropped by her apartment at three AM in an effort to secretly coerce her into being a guardian, much like what he did to Tsuna.

But that reaction only proved his point.

Lynx was the only person skilled enough to stand a sporting chance against the incoming Varia and Tsuna _needed_ her to be his guardian.

Among the current guardians, there was a fiery mid-range fighter, a frigid battle monster, a cool, calm swordsman, a tricky devil, a hyper boxer, and Tsuna himself, who was pretty useless unless in dying will mode.

But they needed stealth. Covert. Information, politics, diplomatically clever and filled with dark experiences, they needed someone who will assist the family behind the scenes, someone to lure danger away, a dark figure, sneaky and assassin-like, someone...like Lynx.

Unfortunately, said girl was very determined to not accept aforementioned position.

Iemitsu had seen this coming, but never thought it would be quite this hard. He mentally groaned.

Lynx may be the best candidate he could possibly ask for, but just how on earth was he going to convince the dark girl?

* * *

"Yamamoto." She blinked stupidly.

It had been awhile since she last talked to the overly cheerful opposite of herself, and right now she was getting the strangest, but most familiar feeling of 'what the fuck' as she ran into the baseball fanatic on her way home after the incredibly irritating encounter with Iemitsu.

"Ahahaha! Hey, Lynx!" Owwww...Smile overload. As usual.

Yamamoto Takeshi was decked out in full kendo gear, looking very samurai-esuqe, what with his wooden sword, and funky armor, along with the helmet under his arm.

Putting two and two together, Lynx concluded the little sparkly thing peeping out from beneath his shirt was The Half Vongola Ring, and Yamamoto was successfully coerced into being a guardian by Iemitsu.

Dramatic internal sigh.

It's a shame the good die young (because eye burning smiles aside, Yamamoto was a pretty nice guy — and that's an understatement).

"I haven't seen you around lately," he said, pinning her with his all holy smile of horror. Lynx managed to refrain from cringing, as she was finally starting to get used to this. "What have you been up to?"

"Stuff." she turned the conversation to him, a classic move for avoiding questions.

"You?"

"Ahahaha! I'm preparing for a competition soon! Tsuna and the others are doing it as well, and we all really want to win." Here, his expression changed. Just a little. There was something in his eyes, a kind of determination that Lynx was unwontedly familiar with.

"I see." And she did see, actually. Varia preparations. My oh my.

"Well." she paused. "Good luck."

"Yeah! See you tomorrow!" he waved goodbye, and Lynx returned it half-heartedly.

Things were picking up. She needed some alone time.

* * *

Sitting on her bed with her laptop before her, Lynx eyed the creepy ring on her neck with a sort of suspicion reserved for morbidly disturbing phenomenas.

In all honestly, she still couldn't quite believe that her mysterious-informant-person-who's-name-she-still-doesn't-know-and-shall-now-be-addressed-as Mr. M had agreed to give her a steady supply of information on the Mesperande simply for the price of taking this ring.

Common sense said it was a trap. Lynx, for one, agreed.

There had to be _something _about accepting this ring that made it worth the price of millions and millions' dollars worth of deadly information. And she needed to know.

Was it dangerous somehow? Did it suck the life energy of the user and condemn one to an early death, but could only be removed by giving it to a different person? Was it some actual bad luck charm that will doom one to an unforeseeable death at the hands of a giant mummy? Was it…yeah, she'll shut up now.

Either way, the ring had to be dangerous, but Lynx just didn't know _how._

Which was bad. Because if she didn't know _how _and _why _this ring was dangerous, fate will most definitely take advantage of it and make it come back and bite her in a crippling move a devastation.

Lynx sighed, and hung her head melodramatically.

Oh well. It's not like she was going miraculously stumble across the answer to this mystery anytime soon.

Lynx had already tried searching up the ring on numerous trustworthy information websites, not to mention her personal engine, but she received no results whatsoever.

The closest thing to a clue was some little tidbit about this ancient Vongola myth that said something about a silver gemstone which looked nothing like the creepy black hunk of metal Lynx received. While it had been interesting (classic mafia legends about evil machinations and secret romance and...yeah. Bulllshiiitttt) the information had appeared to be of no help to Lynx.

Which meant she was stuck.

The only information from Mr. M so far (The deal called for frequent updates, of course, so she was hoping for quick news) was that the Mesperande was making huge plans to continue the project they left off five years ago. The project that _she _was based on. Lynx had thought she ended it when she finally escaped. But now what?

Even to this day, Lynx had no precise idea on exactly what happened five years ago. She had no clue what their goal had been. All she knew was that in the process, she lost everything she ever cared about.

This time around, Mr. M had said that the Vongola were likely somehow involved, and that this was going to be the large scale version of…of what had been a damn _nightmare _from the past.

That was part of the reason she refused to become one of Tsuna's guardians.

The Vongola were definitely involved, but she didn't know how. She needed to step back and watch things properly, pick up the big picture, and analyze their plans to the best of her ability. Mr. M had said that there were definitely signs of the Mesperande preparing to take action during the collision of the two Decimo candidates, and Noel Valvaro's appearance with _Squalo _of all people just reinforced that statement. It would be her window of opportunity.

Lynx frowned.

But what if Tsuna was just like her? What if…the guys were just being used by the Mesperande like she had been?

_No. _She curled in fetal position. _Stop it. Stop thinking like that._

What were the chances of that happening? And even if they were being used like she had been, what could she possibly do about it? Why did she even _care _in the first place?

It was going to be hard enough to take down the Mesperande on her own, and it would be even harder if they had something to use against her again. Emotions were dangerous, connections were weaknesses, and…she just…couldn't…

No, step away from the emotional trauma Lynx, step away from the trauma. Close the damn waterworks door, and snap out of you senseless oh-I'm-dooooomed pathetic tirade.

Last time nearly broke her. She can't risk it again, can't give a second chance.

That's all she needed to know.

But somewhere, deep in the darkest pits of her mind, the traitorous thought still existed. The 'what if?' that whispered to her in the dark, tempting her with something she promised herself she would ever again attain.

* * *

**Thank you so, so much for all your support! :D ****I would like to do something in return, so here's the questions:**

**What would you like to see happen in this fic? Romance? Drama? Humor? Tell me what YOU want! **

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	11. Of Doubt and Trust, So to Say

Lynx had _hoped _that she could rely on her infamous wallflower-ness and distinctive lack of distinctiveness to get her out of this mess, but it appears that fate has other plans (as always).

Upon the resolution to stand by and watch in an asshole-ish manner as Sawada Tsunayoshi and co. get utterly whupped by far superior homicidal assassins, Lynx had the nerve to feel just a _little_ twinge of guilt. Which explained the current situation, of course.

"Bwwwuuuahhh!"

Snot explosion. A mental sigh. A scolding in broken Japanese followed by reassurances of the psychic one.

"Lambo! Be quiet!"

"Buuhhhtt…"

"Don't worry, Lambo!"

"…" _Idiots._

Why Lynx decided to help the unfortunate trio was beyond her, but it had gone something like this:

In the midst of her so very important battle preparations (i.e. Training her ass off, haunting people's bedrooms for questionable reasons, and scouring about for deep dark secrets which she has no business sticking her head in) Lynx had come upon a very interesting scene.

The Mini-Trio, as she liked to call them, were just randomly walking around, looking very scared and terrified with those pale little faces that just screamed, "Heeelp meeee…" in sixteen different languages when she come upon them.

Her first instinct was to ditch them right then and there. She was going to, too, except for one thing.

Tsuna.

Idiot Tsuna and all his naïve kindness to every little thing on the face of the earth was what prompted Lynx to pull off what is likely considered a miracle for one (dark, scary, and very much emotionally void) creature of evil such as herself. How and what did he do?

Well. It _may_ have had a little something to do with the fact that Lynx _only_ left him to confront approaching death in the form of her past enemy combined with a group of homicidal assassins who resembled herself on a bad day, not to mention withholding information and hiding behind walls and secretly using them for her own purposes and being asshole-ish in general and…

Ahem.

The point is, Lynx was having a close encounter with the lovely thing we like to call a 'guilty conscience.' Due to said guilty conscience, Lynx has now been more or less involuntarily coerced into doing random acts of kindness.

It pained her.

(Really, it does. An evil, malicious creature of darkness is helping innocent children with teary eyed sparkles cross the street and find their mommies as a beautiful sunset lit up the scene in the background? Why…that's not shameless at all. Nooope).

And then we have now.

Lynx pinched the bridge of her nose, an action once thought to be reserved for ancient mafia bosses in danger of death via paperwork overload.

Ipin was nice enough, to be honest. Fuuta too, so long as he wasn't in the middle of tormenting her with mind scaring revelations concerning her past, present, and future. _Lambo _on the other hand…

To put it nicely: ANNOYING.

Lynx heaved an infamous dramatic sigh, and strolled forwards in the direction of the children's home – aka Tsuna's house, as the kids (loudly and chattily) followed.

In the span of her fourteen-but-feels-like-four-hundred years of life, Lynx had yet to deal with a situation such as this.

Having no experience in the art of being an epically wonderful babysitter who can carter all needs of spoiled brats, Lynx had to painstakingly deal with the most random things – it had gone from figuring out how to shut up a cow, to preventing atomic garlic explosions, to keeping mysterious psychic powers from accidentally making her float off to the stratosphere, to trying to materialize lollipops out of thin air, to…you get the gist of it.

Kyoko and Haru dealt with it daily. Lynx had a sudden respect for the two girls which may, or may not have been influenced by a large blob of snot she has yet to figure out how to remove.

She grimaced. _There goes my favorite sweater._

And that was how the last ten minutes had gone by. Cheerfully, abet aggravatingly, Lynx steadily led the kids from one side of town, to the other, in hopes of returning them to their home (which was a good five miles away and seeing as she can't carry three kids while leaping from building to building and/or sprinting at full speed, Lynx was reduced to suffering the long walk of shame).

But one must admit there was a certain bonding factor in exchanging snot one-sidedly. That, and sacrificing precious articles of clothing for the sake some ignorant dude with flaming gloves of death and insanity as Lynx's patience was tested to the limits.

Ah. The joys of life.

Unfortunately, all the perfectly snotful cheeriness had to end sometime.

The end came in the form of a now-familiar certain doom announcing noise which occurred in every such situation. Lynx, being the smart little cookie she was (not really) pretended to not hear. Through the corner of her eyes, though, she observed the source of the noise.

There was a man. Dressed in shiny black leather which would be restraining and heavy and not at all camouflaging in the colorful roofs of Namimori, was an amateur who obviously did not read the basic assassination guidelines.

Lynx mentally frowned.

Not to mention, there was an odd pounding coming towards them which was suspiciously similar to the train wreck style jogging noise that zoomed by her window each morning. Along with a fast approaching lightweight from the north, and some other dudes incoming from east and south. Actually, if she listened closer, it distinctively sounded like one of the forms was tiny and infant-like…which meant Reborn, of course.

But they were late.

The assassin was already cocking his electric barbeque stick, and two more were coming at her from different sides.

Looking down behind her (she was still leading the kids on, and the kids were still being kids, which meant they were chatting nonsensically and obviously did not know of the approaching threat) Lynx glimpsed a shiny, frightfully familiar ring in the midst of Lambo's hair.

She nearly face palmed. (How did she not spot that earlier?) But now was not the time.

"Oi." Lynx was talking to the kids. She stopped. They stopped.

"Alalala~. Hey! Why'd you stop?" Expected.

Lambo jumped up and down impatiently. Ipin immediately reprimanded him.

"Lambo, be polite!"

The older and more danger-experienced of the three caught on the fastest.

"Lynx-nee…Is something wrong?"

Lynx was tuning them out and straining her ears with fierce concentration. The assassin was charging up, she could hear the little lightning noises and she needed to get the timing perfect –as in right…now!

She tackled down the kids, sweeping all three of them off their feet and twisting as she hit the pavement first, cushioning the blow for the children. As the foursome crashed down, a bolt of lightning shot past, followed by a _thunk! _sound and a ring of fist-to-face impact as someone roughly five meters away was sent flying through the air.

Lambo yelled, Ipin gasped, and Fuuta clung to his book while Lynx got back up and stared down intimidatingly at the black-clad figure that fell down from a few feet away after getting a face full of Ryohei's latest punch (Lynx has been keeping up with every one's process, mind you. Just saying).

"…Goodnight."

He looked up in confusion, just in time for her to knock him out with a few calculated pressure points.

He fell with a dull thud.

Lynx gave a mental cheer. Techniques straight from the books _did _work, apparently. Take that, those-random-douches-who-say-book-nerds-have-no-power! And then she leaped into the shadows as though it physically pained her to come in contact with Tsunayoshi and co.

Ryohei, Yamamoto, and Gokudera made their dramatic appearances (where was their sense of sneaky Mafioso-ness? She heard them from like fifty meters away!) and was followed up by a far too late Tsunayoshi and Reborn. Who was smirking. Never a good sign, and Lynx had a sneaking suspicion she knew why.

She pulled a face from behind the brick wall, and conveyed her evil mind waves with a fellow creature of darkness as Tsunayoshi and co. fussed over the kids, and her wallflower-y-ness was put to good use for once (she was starting to suspect it was wearing off, but no, it was still as effective as ever, so it seemed. Against humans. Fate and Karma? Not so much).

Her eyes gave a very blunt, very obvious, '_I-know-what-you're-thinking-and-no-I-will-not-reconsider' _statement, and she awaited her response.

At the first opportunity in which Tsuna's back was turned, she received the 'Oh Reaaally?' owl face that trolled her to no end, and hinted at very unfortunate occurrences that were _never gonna happen dammit. _

Meanwhile, Lambo was trying to tell Tsuna an unbelievable story concerning a dark-haired thundercloud of doom and gloom that saved them at the last moment and blah-de-blah-de-blah-blah-blah.

Lynx heaved a mental facepalm. As she said once before: ANNOYING.

Ipin and Fuuta had more sense, however, and that she appreciated. They had both seen her hightail it to the nearest available emo corner in hopes of hiding, and taken the hint that she didn't want to be seen. Although Ipin looked unsure, she didn't speak up, and Fuuta just smiled peacefully in understanding.

(Lambo was confronting Tsuna with "Lambo-san's sure she helped us! Where did kitty-eyes go!?" "…Kitty-eyes?" Lots of doubt by Tsuna. Lynx was ever so glad for it to have been a bit dark, and never actually looking at the children head on, therefore leading to Lambo getting the clearest description as 'dark-haired girl with kitty eyes.' Though that name _does _piss her off slightly…)

"They were a lot weaker than I thought…"

Actually, those were grunts.

"Don't be foolish. There are lower ranks among the Varia. The real fearsome ones are – " Reborn cut himself off and Lynx followed his gaze.

Another epically dramatic rustle later, Levi-a-Than made his appearance, and Lynx couldn't help but have a brief moment of triumph because now, now she hadn't suffered though hours and hours of snot and bickering and demands for lollipops and random floating objects and dangerously close encounters with garlic bomb explosions and…It was all worth it because she can _finally _begin her long awaited mission:

Witness the battle between Varia and Tsunayoshi, and brace herself for the moment the Mesperande will surely interfere.

Whether behind the scenes or directly within the battle, Lynx knew their antics well enough to spot it from a mile away. They were going to come and she just knew it. Mr. M's information had yet to be wrong, and after probing around on her own, she still came to the same conclusion.

So it was finally time to take action.

Lynx withdrew herself from her admittedly amateur hiding spot behind the wall, and sought a better place. Among the surroundings, the best option seemed to be deep in the trees, a place where she can watch both sides, and hear all conversation.

As more Varia members arrived, Tsuna and co. were too enraptured by the assassin's appearance to notice her when she was genuinely trying to not be noticed.

Slipping into the shadows, Lynx made her way to her chosen spot and settled down in a position where she can flight quickly when exchange is over, and fight effectively should she be discovered.

And then she waited.

The Varia members showed up one by one, and she knew each and every one through name and information gathered. Belphegore, the blond knife-wielding prince. Levi-a-Than, a man with eight umbrellas (Lynx reminded her inner self not to judge based on that). Squalo, prideful swordsman, the Sword Emperor. Mammon, a greedy illusionist. Lussuria, a boxer with strange fetishes. And Gola Mosca, a robot powered by suspicious sources which Lynx grilled Mr. M on. Seeing it made her feel all the guiltier for Tsunayoshi and the Vongola, but…They were none of her concern now.

The moment Varia arrived, it was also time for her to cut all ties with them. Her future actions would be unforgivable, and she was prepared for the consequences. (But Antarctica was always available, so she wasn't _too _worried about Vongola's reactions. Really. I mean, it might hurt just a _little _to have everyone hate her guts and try to kill her but it wasn't _that _big of a deal, honestly).

Last but definitely not least, was Xanxus.

A man frozen in ice for eight years after a betrayal, he was full of mystery. He was the first one Lynx interrogated Mr. M about after discovering his situation (eight years ago collided with her time span with the Mesperande and that was just all too suspicious).

What she found was rather surprising.

Xanxus wasn't the Ninth's real son. Adopted because of his flames of rage, Xanxus sought to take over the Vongola by force when he found out. _How _he found out, however…

Mesperande handprints all over it. Which, of course, just further the importance of Lynx observing this battle.

As Varia and Tsuna's Guardians prepared to face off (she seriously had no idea Iemitsu decided to give _Lambo _the Thunder Ring until five minutes ago. Though that certainly explained why he stopped bugging her, she felt…even guiltier. Damn) they were interrupted by an axe thrown by Iemitsu, whose arrival she was somewhat expecting.

He was the External Advisor. His son was at stake. Of course he would show up.

Following him, however, was an awful sight Lynx wasn't pleased to see. It was a familiar face, a face that popped up numerous times in the past.

The Cervello.

Pink-haired judges that played with fate. Lync fought hard to keep from releasing killing intent and blowing her cover. Iemitsu and Varia had yet to notice her and it just wasn't worth it, no matter how much she wanted to punch the pink haired douche bags.

Grimacing slightly, she also noted that a certain Noel Valvaro was missing from the scene—which was most particular, because upon comparison, he had definitely been wearing the Varia uniform when he fought her. Yet for some reason he wasn't present now, when the Varia appeared to have been ready to fight it all out?

It was odd. Especially added with the fact that Varia already has Six Guardians and one Boss, a full set that can't take anyone more.

Before Lynx had time to ponder on the mysterious-ness of her dear Noel Bastardo-kun, the Cervello burst into this long, typical speech about this and that, before announcing the rules of the incoming Ring Battles and the nightly fights that would occur.

Sun Guardians were up first.

The rest would follow.

Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Lambo, Ryohei, and most likely Chrome or Mukuro. Prehaps Hibari too.

Lynx wasn't sure what she felt about all this. She only knew about her own purpose here. But nonetheless…

_Good luck, guys._

* * *

Upon waking up after yesterday's drama, Lynx had one thought in mind: Breakfast. Her lovely breakfast.

She busied herself in making a wondrous creation of chocolate chip pancakes drizzled with sparkly maple syrup that just made you go mmhhmmmm and set it upon her living room table. Ah, pancakes. Such pretty things. It was almost a shame to ruin the sweet sight, but oh well. She brought out her silverware, and mentally hummed an almost happy tune as she sat herself on the couch.

Then, just as she readied her fork to stab into her little piece of heaven…"GOOOOD MORNINGGG!"…her soul goes flying out of her body with a little scream as she flips over her table and attempts to skewer the source of waffle destruction.

(Excuuuse her, but she was just a _bit _high strung after an encounter with one of the deadliest assassin squads and the Cervello and a humanoid robot with a human in it who was positively creeping her out not to mention a certain Xanxus who would burn down the country if he knew she knew that he knew he wasn't the Ninth's son)

A rain of silverware later, Lynx mustered up her most murderous glare and channeled the full greatness of her evil mind waves at the cause of disturbance.

"…" _Yoooouuu…_

No mind filter would have been enough for the homicidal thoughts going through her head.

Her intruder belatedly noted the scene and clasped his hands together with a sweat drop.

"Ops."

The suddenly intensified _look _he received in response wasn't even funny.

"What." Lynx deadpans, making excessive efforts to not carry through her original goal of permanently traumatizing her intruder with extreme mental mindfuck. Being with Mukuro had taught her many things, after all. The only thing saving her dear informant was the fact that he was utterly irreplaceable therefore unkillable. The lucky douchebag…

"Oh, Lynx-chan, aren't you glad to see me?!" He chirps cheerily.

Kami. That personality just _kills _her on the inside – Every. Single. Time.

"Get to the point."

"Awww, but –"

"Right. Now. _" Before a regrettable but totally necessary tragedy occurs. My carpeting is quite thick, you know._

Her mysterious informant rubbed his hands together sheepishly.

"Right, you're just not in the mood today, huh?" And just whose fault was that again? "Well." He coughed. "The ring, please."

Lynx fumbled around her neck and dangled the black ring. It was their custom. Right before the man gives information, Lynx had to show him that she indeed is still in procession of the creepy ring given to her. Not that Lynx had any idea why it was so important, though. But she's working on that.

The masked man held it in his palm a bit before nodding and letting go. Lynx let the ring fall into the depths of her shirt.

"Good, good. Now then, the latest update on the Mesperande?"

A nod.

Here, the masked man sighed and leaned himself on her room's doorframe (how he barged in through her room's door without bypassing her front door was a mystery indeed).

"Since you know about Xanxus and the Cervello already…" Why yes, of course she did. "…I'll get to the point this time. We only have one new piece of information, but it's quite important."

He paused theatrically, obviously waiting for something. Lynx groaned a little on the inside. In what way was this 'getting to the point?'

"What?"

He beamed, while inner Lynx writhed shamefully in an imaginary cloud of gloom.

"The Mesperande has been certified to be targeting one person in particular – though they have a wide range, everyone on their list is related to this person." He spoke in hushed tone, mock excitement lacing each word. "And that person is…" He twirled, and struck a pose. "Sawada Tsunayoshi, our beloved future Decimo!"

She choked a little.

"T-Tsunayoshi?"

Stuttering. The evil ice block of doom and gloom does not _stutter._

Ignoring that little slipup, Lynx stared at her informant with what was defined as her most horrified expression (i.e. a frown that is deeper than five millimeters, and a turning a bit more deathly pale than usual).

"What do you mean." That was spoken most robotically, by the way. Totally monotone.

The masked man fiddled with his hat.

"Hm, I wonder…"

"_Oi…" _A hint of aggravation.

"Yes, yes, no withholding information! But I'm not." Lynx recovered her horrified expression and replaced it with her 'What-the-hell-are-you-talking-about' face. Mr. M appeared to get the message, and elaborated.

"The purposes are definitely _bad…_but that's all we know." He nearly, _nearly _pouted, while Lynx watched his movements with interest.

Did she ever describe his appearance in detail? No? In that case, let's summarize: typical fancy mask, black suit, black hat, black shoes, black decorations across aforementioned mask (which was metal and therefore silver), and white hair which seemed positively tinted with black (Somehow. Don't ask how that works, but there's really no other way to describe it).

He was tall, Yamamoto-tall, and held an air about him that had instantly alerted Lynx that despite his childish antics and clown-like behavior, this man was absolutely _deadly._ There was something unearthly about him, something that always set her on edge…

But that's for another time.

The reason we are suddenly describing the appearance and habits of Mr. M was because this is the first time Lynx had seen him display genuine emotions of…anger. Frustration.

In all her time (two years) of using him as information base, she had never seen him like this. Usually, it was the other way around, her either pissed off or annoyed or downright murderous while he was playful, mocking, and embodying deceit in human form.

Mr. M was muttering under his breath, saying something along the lines of "Can't believe that…How could they…such a nuisance…"

It was almost as though he was having a tantrum.

All of a sudden, he stopped, and turned to Lynx with just the slightest waves of irritation rolling off him.

"That's all for today. See you soon, kitty-chan."

And through the purple mushroom plume he goes. Lynx waved sort of mechanically and stared at the spot of a good while, before realizing that he just assigned her a nickname plagiarized from what Lambo said just _yesterday_.

She balked. _Stalker much? There's such a thing as too much information!_

Setting aside her surprise at the amount of information he had on _her, _Lynx let out a breath before allowing herself fall onto the sofa in exhaustion.

The info was still a bit of a shock to take in.

Tsuna was the Mesperande's target for reasons unknown. She knew it was a fact, and that there was no other potential information available because Mr. M, tricky as he may be, would never stoop so low. One of the reasons she maintains contact with him.

Another piece of evidence came in her informant's apparent frustrations at not knowing aforementioned information. Lynx never knew that Mr. M had pride issues. Must be a male thing. Either way, it was a big problem, so to speak.

Lynx had known perfectly well that the Mesperande was targeting the _Vongola, _but for them to mark Tsuna specifically…

It wasn't good.

Showing such individual interest, saying that the Mesperande wasn't targeting Tsuna because of the Vongola, but instead, it was targeting the Vongola because of _Tsuna…_

It changed everything. It was a hard piece of evidence that Vongola were _not _in league with the Mesperande, so Lynx can kick aside her theories and precautions concerning them (not that they weren't still a threat).

Tsunayoshi was the key to all this somehow. Lynx didn't know why, actually there was _so _much she just didn't know in general, and she was conflicted. Confused. For once, in a situation such as this…Unsure.

There was still a chance for her to take sides. Though Iemitsu may have given up on her as a Guardian, nothing was stopping her from helping behind the scenes, and cutting the strings that the Mesperande will undoubtedly attempt to pull.

On the other hand, did she really want to aid Tsuna?

Unlike the fight with Mukuro, the Ring Battles were going to be the highlights of the underworld. Try as she may, word about her involvement will leak out somehow, and that was always bad.

Mr. M had certified that the Mesperande thought she was dead and gone, a failed project that was of no importance. That was the greatest advantage she could ask for, and she wasn't about to risk it.

At the same time, it seemed apparent that the Mesperande was taking the Varia's side, what with Noel Valvaro's appearance, the Cervello, and the fact that they were involved in Xanxus's history…

What on earth should she do?

* * *

**xxXXXxx**

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